Stranded
by vanishingp2000
Summary: Trip and Archer are stranded on a strange planet with their very survival at stake. COMPLETE
1. Default Chapter

STRANDED

By Vanishingp2000

Email: vanishingp@supawoman.com 

Rating PG 13 – English –Adventure/Drama/Friendship NO SLASH

Disclaimer: Enterprise is owned by Paramount. I offer them and the cast and crew my grateful thanks for bringing us such wonderful entertainment. This story was written entirely for fun, not profit and is not intended to infringe copyright in any way.

Archive: Yes but please let me know where.

A/N this is my first attempt at fan fiction so please be gentle. I am English so if any odd spellings or strange words creep in that is the reason. 

A/N 2 The story is set pre Expanse and is complete.

Summary: Trip and Archer are stranded on a strange planet with their very survival at stake.

Chapter 1.

Trip Tucker crouched, shivering, behind a craggy boulder and tried to wipe the water out of his eyes. It was a futile gesture considering the fact that the wind was howling and rain had been lashing at him ever since he left the shuttle pod. His hair was plastered to his head and his clothes waterlogged, the only bright spot at this moment the flickering light he had fleetingly caught sight of a few minutes earlier. He cupped a hand around his scanner, grateful for its waterproof properties and tried again to scan for life signs but still with the same negative results. According to his instrument _he wasn't even there, wherever _there_ was on this desolate moor land._

Coughing, he turned again to peer around the rock but the lights had gone, if they had ever existed. He was beginning to doubt even that. _Should he try and follow them? He was reluctant to go any further in these conditions, he wasn't too sure he could find his way back to the shuttle pod as it was and his getting lost would only compound their problems. _

A violent fit of shivering shook him out of his reverie, he had to get moving. Leaving the shelter of his rock he had to bend almost double against the wind, which seemed to drive the rain at him from every direction. Setting the scanner to pick up the homing beacon he had activated before leaving the shuttle he had to hold the instrument to his ear to hear the gentle beeping. Struggling forwards, he tried to retrace his steps but the rain had already obliterated almost every trace in the muddy ground. Straining his eyes he could just make out the wizened tree on the opposite side of the gully. **That he knew he had passed, he had snagged his sleeve on its branches. Sighing he set himself to climbing towards the tree. The going was slow, each of the small rivulets had burst its banks and there was a steady rush of water down most of the hillside. Reaching the top at last he paused under the tree to catch his breath and tried again to signal Enterprise, perhaps he was free of the interference by now. "Tucker to Enterprise," he cupped his hand around his communicator, "Tucker to Enterprise." Static was the only response.**

Peering through the gloom into the distance he could barely make out the next rise. The thick magenta tinged clouds had lowered almost into the valleys and were swirling around his head. The rain continued unabated and it was definitely getting colder. _I've had enough of this, he thought vehemently and set off once again as quickly as the conditions would allow. He had traversed three steep sided valleys on his way to the rocky outcrop so that left two more before the shuttle would be visible. If he didn't fall over it first. _

Slipping and sliding his way down through the thick mud on the hillside Tucker reached the bottom abruptly as a swirling eddy of wind caused him to loose his footing. He rolled the last several metres before colliding, painfully with a large pile of rocks at the river's edge. The water tugged at his arms as he sprawled on the ground and it was all he could do to pull himself away from its grasp. Desperately he clung to the rocks before finding the strength to pull himself further up the bank. Only once before had he ever felt so cold and dimly a voice in the back of his mind was telling him he'd better get moving while he still could.

Edging around the rocks onto relatively firm ground Trip attempted to stand and promptly sat down again clutching his leg. He hadn't been aware of hurting himself, _must be the cold, _he thought, _making me numb._ Numb or not something was wrong though, his leg had hurt like hell when he tried to put his weight on it. Gingerly he felt for damage. There was a large rent in his right trouser leg just above the knee and his hand came away covered in a mixture of blood and muddy river water. _Great, he mumbled, _just great._ Inching around he put his back against the rock and reached for his scanner. Somewhat to his surprise it was still in its pouch and still beeping gently. Breathing a silent "thank you" to whomever was looking out for him he slowly tried to get to his feet again. This time he made it, gritting his teeth and for once grateful for the cold._

The mists had all but reached the valley bottom by now and he had another valley and a half to go. _Doesn't do to think about it, _he told himself. _Better to try and find a way across this river._

The river was rapidly becoming a torrent as the torrential rains rushed to the valley floor, if he didn't cross soon he wouldn't be crossing at all. Steeling himself he searched for the narrowest place within easy reach. The water seemed a little calmer down to his right where some trees neared the edge. He made his way over there and reached up and yanked the thickest branch he could from the tree closest to the torrent. Using it as a probe he edged into the water. He was barely able to keep his feet as it rapidly rose to knee level. The water licked keenly at his wounded leg but his cry was lost to the wailing wind. Somehow he made it to the other side but the effort took its toll. Now the branch had to be used as a prop and he didn't want to think how much further he had to go. Picturing a warm cosy shuttle and a hot cup of coffee he resolutely set himself to climbing the next rise, which seemed much steeper and higher than he had remembered. 

****************************

Jonathan Archer groaned softly and reached a shaking hand to his head. Everything was hazy and he took time to listen to his surroundings before opening his eyes. He was lying on his back on one of the benches onboard Shuttlepod 1 but it didn't sound right; there were no background noises from the equipment or the engines……………. He bolted upright, or tried to, as memories flooded back. He and Trip had tried to make an emergency landing after being caught in an ion storm on their way back from a diplomatic mission to Ansara. He remembered coming through the atmosphere of the small planet that hadn't been on their sensors before they had been caught up in the storm, but he couldn't remember much more than that. Trip had shouted something about the engines…. _Trip, where was Trip? Archer tried again to sit up only to fall back in agony as a blinding pain shot along his entire left side, stemming from his leg. Looking down much more cautiously he saw that his leg was bound to a makeshift splint and there was blood on his jumpsuit but Trip was nowhere to be seen._

Archer looked beyond his feet at the pilot's console, it was a mess. He could see now how his leg had been broken, looking at the crushed state of the console it was a wonder he had come out of it alive. Adjusting his position slightly he became aware of the padd tucked beneath him. Smiling a little he pulled it out and listened to the message from his friend. _"Capt'n, it looks like there's a few hours of daylight left and you seem in no hurry to wake up so I've gone to try and contact the ship. The transceiver has had it and my communicator's not able to break through the interference so I'm going to try and find some higher ground, see if I can get a message off. I'll be back within a couple of hours. Stay put!" _

Archer smiled at the last and looked at the time Trip had left his message, he must have been gone at least two hours already he thought, squinting to try and see the chronometer. His eyes were drawn to what was left of the viewscreen, rocks obscured most of his view but he could see the storm clouds, which spewed angry yellow bolts of lightning and visibility was extremely poor. He hoped that Trip had found shelter, in this weather the chances of contacting Enterprise, even on high ground were remote.

Not that the ship was due back in this system for the next couple of days anyway. The diplomatic mission to Ansara had seemed like a welcome diversion after weeks of inactivity, the chance to trade for supplies too good to pass up. Trip had been elated at the change of scene and relieved that they had managed to restock some of the engineering stores that had been running dangerously low. The crash had not been pilot error but had been as a direct result of the ion storm, which had developed much more rapidly than any he had encountered before. In fact Archer harboured serious doubts as to whether it had been an entirely natural phenomenon. He only hoped he would get the chance to find out.

A sudden thump on the outside of the shuttle alerted him, the door release had been activated. Archer held his breath and waited but he needn't have worried it was Tucker. He climbed over the sill gingerly and stood; framed in the doorway like a spectre from the deep, before collapsing slowly to the floor with a great sigh. He was shivering uncontrollably, soaked to the skin and his face was a mask of pain. "Trip," he muttered, "what have you got into now?" 

Trip looked up, smiling in relief at his friend before levering himself to his feet once more and reaching up to close the hatchway. He moved over to stand by Archer's side. "How're ya doing Capt'n?" he asked, teeth chattering. He was icy cold, the water from his clothing already beginning to make a puddle on the floor. 

"Better'n you by the looks of it," Archer replied. "What the hell happened?"

"I slipped, it's kinda muddy out there." As he talked Trip was trying to open the locker containing the survival packs but his hands were nearly useless with the cold. Clumsily he pulled out a couple of thermal blankets and the medkit. Keeping a blanket for himself he handed the kit and second blanket to Archer and wordlessly began stripping off his sodden clothing.

Archer rummaged in the kit for antiseptic wipes and analgesic and tried to ignore the gasp of pain from his friend. "Did you find anything?" he asked, as much to keep the engineer alert as to extract information.

"I I did think I saw some lights at one point," Trip stammered, "but couldn't spot them again. Mmm," he gasped on a sharp intake of breath as he tried to ease his sodden trousers over the gash in his leg. A ragged flap of skin had caught on the cloth and he closed his eyes as a biting pain shot up his leg.

"Come over here and let me have a look," Archer instructed. Smiling slightly despite himself Tucker pulled the blanket closely about him and surrendered. Truth to tell he wasn't getting far anyway, his hands were too damn cold. He eased himself into a sitting position on the floor next to Archer's bench and tried not to yell as the Captain gently pulled the wet cloth away from his wound. His leg was a mess, from the look of that he was lucky he had been able to walk at all. For the first time that day he was actually thankful for the cold, its numbing effect had been beneficial after all.

"You haven't torn any major blood vessels at least," Archer sounded relieved, "but there's too much damage here for me to repair. We have to get you back to sickbay."

Tucker laughed morosely. "A fine pair we are," he winced. "Enterprise won't even be looking for us until tomorrow."

"I'll just have to patch you up and impress you with my medical skills," Archer quipped, worry lining his face. Carefully he cleaned Tucker's wound before applying an antiseptic wound dressing which he held in place with a bandage. Throughout the procedure he kept a discrete eye on his friend's face, aside from his obvious pain he was blue about the mouth and still shivering. He seemed close to collapse and was clearly exhausted but Jon didn't want him sleeping until his temperature had returned to something approaching normal. "Any chance we could get a hot drink around here?" he asked, easing himself back on to the bench.

Half an hour later Trip had managed to rig up an effective hot plate by cannibalising the heating element from the shuttle's heating system. The exertion had helped to reduce his shivering and the hot coffee was very welcome. Despite the caffeine he found himself fighting to keep his eyes open and eased himself off the floor and onto the bench opposite Archer. "You alright Capt'n if I just close ma eyes for a bit?" he asked.

"You think you could stay awake if I asked?" his friend quipped looking closely at Trip. The engineer had a little more colour but his eyes were drooping and he was nearly dropping with fatigue.

"Prob'ly not," he slurred resting his head back on the bench and pulling the blanket around him.

Jon settled back himself and tried to ease his leg into a more comfortable position, the analgesic Trip had given him earlier was beginning to wear off but there was no way he was going to wake his friend on his account at the moment.

*********************************

Archer woke with a start. The pod had moved. From outside he could hear the crack of thunder directly overhead, accompanied simultaneously by the vivid flash of lightning.

"Trip," he croaked, surprised by how weak he sounded. Then "Trip," more strongly. The engineer's eyes opened slowly at first and then more quickly as he heard the urgency in his friend's voice.

"Jon?" he queried before feeling the problem for himself. Quickly he sat up and flexed his leg. _Not too bad, if he didn't think about it. _Hurriedly he grabbed his jumpsuit and put it on before moving to look out of what remained of the viewscreen. 

Abruptly he was slammed to the floor as the shuttle rocked again, more violently this time and water began to seep through the cracks in the screen. Scrambling to his feet, barely stopping to think Trip seized a couple of jackets and the medkit from the locker and moved to help Archer to his feet as the trickle quickly gave way to a torrent of water as the damaged screen gave up the battle to remain intact. 

The sudden rush of water forced them both back and Trip struggled to regain his feet whilst supporting Archer against the torrent. Bracing himself he tried in vain to open the hatchway as the water quickly rose to waist height. Archer wedged himself into a corner and took the medkit from his friend. "We're not floating," he pointed out, trying to keep his voice calm to give Trip whatever strength he could. "Where did we crash?"

"Bottom of a gully up 'gainst a rocky ledge, the water must be running down over the ledge," Tucker grunted as he finally managed to persuade the hatch to creak open. The sight which greeted him was hardly more appealing than the inside of the shuttle but at least in the open they would have a chance of escaping the water which had now risen to chest height. He struggled back against the flow to help Archer. The captain was pale but looked determined, always a good sign. With difficulty and no little pain they made it over the hatch coaming and out onto a rocky surface covered in mud and the beginnings of a flood.

Within seconds they were drenched to the skin by the driving rain. Tucker put his arm around Archer's waist and half dragged him towards the rocky outcrop furthest from the torrent of floodwater. Breathlessly they stopped for a moment to look back. The shuttle was rocking slowly under the onslaught and even as they watched it listed more than forty-five degrees before struggling to right itself.

"Time to move Capt'n," Tucker said ruefully shifting his hold on his friend, with his leg broken moving at all was agony for Archer, let alone being able to walk on an uneven slippery surface.

"Which way?" Jon ground out.

"Up!" Trip slung the medkit over his shoulder with his free hand and reached out to the rock face grinding his teeth against the pain from his own leg.

TBC

  



	2. Stranded Chapter 2

STRANDED

By Vanishingp2000

A/N Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, I really appreciate your kind words.

Email: vanishingp@supawoman.com 

Rating PG 13 – English –Adventure/Drama/Friendship NO SLASH

Disclaimer: Enterprise is owned by Paramount. I offer them and the cast and crew my grateful thanks for bringing us such wonderful entertainment. This story was written entirely for fun, not profit and is not intended to infringe copyright in any way.

Archive: Yes but please let me know where.

A/N this is my first attempt at fan fiction so please be gentle. I am English so if any odd spellings or strange words creep in that is the reason.

Chapter 2.

The going was tortuously slow, for every two steps they moved forward they slipped back at least one but gradually they made it to a ledge part way up the rocky outcrop farthest from the water. Trip lowered Archer to the ground and paused to catch his breath. Visibility was virtually nil, they could see perhaps two metres in any direction through the driving rain. Archer leant his head back against the rock and closed his eyes holding himself stiffly against the pain. Tucker watched him, concerned. They had got to find shelter soon.

"Hang on Capt'n," he said. "I'll scout ahead and find us a place to wait out the storm." Archer barely nodded as Trip hoisted himself further up the rocky slope. It was easier without half carrying Jon but irritatingly he became much more aware of his own leg now that he didn't have to think of his friend. It had stiffened alarmingly and every step sent a griping pain all the way up his side. Shutting his mind to the throbbing he tried to use his other limbs as much as possible to haul himself up the slope. Fifteen minutes later he had almost reached the summit. He could now barely see two feet in front of him so he was feeling his way warily for fear of falling. Suddenly his hand slipped out in front of him and it was all he could do to keep his balance. Taking a moment to steady his breathing Trip felt cautiously forward, nothing. He inched himself towards the gap, scarcely daring to hope that the opening might be big enough to give them some shelter.

_Finally something's gone right. _Trip thought as the opening proved to be a small cave. It wasn't strictly dry but it was out of the weather and could, at a stretch, be called just damp at the rear. Now all he had to do was find his way back to the captain and then back up here. _Piece of cake, _he hoped!

_***********************************_

_Not impossible, but definitely NOT a piece of cake, _Trip reflected as he thankfully eased himself down onto the rocky floor of the small cave nearly two hours later. The rain had continued unrelentingly throughout the time he and Jon had struggled up to the small opening but just as they finally made it, it looked as though it was at last subsiding.

Archer had collapsed in the corner, his face contorted in pain. Tucker grimaced, wishing there was more he could do for his friend. He had just given him another shot of analgesic but the captain was shivering with the cold now that he had stopped moving and that was only adding to his discomfort. Trip moved and sat down next to his friend being careful not to jog him. He'd just have five minutes rest and then try again to contact the ship.

He woke slowly, dimly aware that something had changed. Jon was still beside him slumped against the wall and barely conscious. _What had woken him, what was it that had changed? _

Trip sat up rubbing at his arms to try and get some warmth back into his limbs, he checked the captain's breathing which was pained but regular and then moved towards the entrance to the cave. It was much darker but everything was still and quiet. _That was it, the quiet. The storm had stopped. _He peered out and looked over a vast expanse of mud strewn landscape. Twin moons were just coming into view over the horizon but their light barely cast a shadow over the desolate landscape. Struggling to his feet Trip gasped in pain as the nerve endings in his leg woke up from the cold. He had definitely had enough of this place. Moving outside the cold hit him instantly as the temperature dropped by several degrees from inside the cave. As quickly as he could he pulled out his communicator and tried to raise Enterprise.

"Tucker to Enterprise, Tucker to Enterprise," he repeated.

He took another step forwards and nearly fell flat on his face as his leg slipped out from beneath him. The ground was frozen solid. _How long had he been asleep? Surely not that long?_

"Trip," Archer's voice from behind him broke him out of his reverie and he turned and made his way back inside as quickly as the conditions would allow. Archer was attempting to sit up from where he had slumped against the wall and Trip hurried over to help him.

"Hey Capt'n, how're you doin'?" 

Archer smiled weakly. "Fine," he grimaced, "You?"

"Sure, I'd be better if I could get in touch with Enterprise though. Any idea what time it is?" As he spoke Trip was checking the splint around the captain's leg, he was freezing to the touch, they needed to get some heat.

"Can't say, I doubt they're in range yet though."

Trip thought a moment before asking "You got your communicator on you? I can turn one into a beacon by reversing the signal but I don't want to cannibalise our only one."

"Good idea," Jon replied before reaching for the sleeve pocket on his jumpsuit. "We got anything to eat?" he asked. "Might help us to keep a bit warmer."

Trip passed the backpack over in exchange for the communicator and began to take it apart before the light became too poor to be of any use. It was a relatively simple matter to reverse the signal but he had it in mind that they may have to leave it as a marker and try and find another way out of the cave. Clearly they couldn't stay where they were unless they wanted to freeze to death and leaving the way they had come was also out of the question. As soon as he had finished he put the device back together and wedged it into a crack at the cave entrance then he went over to the captain and took the proffered protein bar. 

"Think you could move if you had to?" he asked.

"If I had to," Jon replied positively as Trip had known he would.

"It's an ice sheet out there, the mud has frozen solid, there's nothing to use to make a fire an if we don't move we are gonna freeze." Trip looked sympathetically over at his friend. **He sure as hell didn't feel like traipsing around in this, it would be much worse for the captain. "I'm gonna have a look around back there," he indicated the dark recesses of the cave, "see if there's any way out that way." **

"Be careful." Trip thought he could detect a slight note of fear in his friend's voice and shivered as the realisation that Jon needed him, hit him again. He took the flashlight out of the backpack. _Good thing these bags come prepacked, he thought, _sure didn't have time to pack it m'self.__

Carefully the engineer crossed to the back of the cave scanning the walls for signs of fissures. The walls were cold to the touch but not yet freezing. _Prob'ly only a matter of time the way its going out there, _he decided_. The cave extended further than he had at first thought, winding its way around a corner that hadn't been visible until he looked with the flashlight. Strangely the ground was quite even and when Tucker looked closely he could see marks on the walls that didn't look entirely natural._

"Capt'n?" he called. "I'm not too sure what to make of this."

"What have you got?"

"Doesn't look natural." Tucker made his way back to his friend. "Not like we have a lot of choice," he said. "Should make it easier to move though. Maybe I did see lights after all," he reflected.

"Could be," Jon agreed, "but you're right, we don't have a lot of choice. Help me up here," he requested putting his arm out to his friend.

Trip moved over and carefully planted his feet to give Jon some leverage before reaching out and taking the captain's arm. "Easy does it Capt'n," he urged, wrapping the captain's arm over his shoulder and putting his own arm around the other's waist before stooping to pick up the supplies and slinging them over his other shoulder. They made their way slowly towards the back of the cave with Trip holding the flashlight out in front of them in his free hand. 

*************************************

"Still no response Sub Commander," Hoshi Sato spoke from her station on the bridge.

"Keep trying Ensign, we should be coming into range soon." The calm voice of Enterprise's second in command was reassuringly firm as usual. "Anything on long range scans Ensign?" she enquired of Travis Mayweather.

"No Sir," he replied not yet showing any sign of worry though it sure would be good to have the Captain and Chief Engineer back on board, it just wasn't the same without them.

************************************

The passage was cold but nowhere near freezing Trip reflected as they struggled to their feet again after yet another stop. The going underfoot was difficult in that they were constantly descending and the captain, for all he hadn't complained, just couldn't go far without catching his breath against the agony from his leg.

Despite their problems Trip was convinced by now that they were moving through some sort of constructed passage, there was evidence of natural features having been cut away, not to mention the floor was far more even than any cave he'd ever been in. _But who the hell would have built this and why?_ The thought tumbled over and over as he struggled to support Jon upright and keep from crying out as the captain's splint brushed from time to time against his own wounds.

Eventually they came to a fork in the passage, the air was distinctly warmer and, on a hunch, Trip shut off the flashlight. "Well what d'y'know?" he wondered aloud. Whereas before it had been pitch black without the light now there was an even glow from the walls, enough to see where they were going at any rate.

"Wonder if anyone's home?" Jon leant carefully back against the wall with Trip's help leaving the engineer to go and look down each of the forks. "How far underground do you reckon we are? he queried, "might be worth trying the ship, we don't know what minerals the rocks contain, may get through."

"Sure," Tucker offered reaching for his communicator, which he passed back to the captain before reaching into another pocket for his scanner. "Hmm," he pulled a face. "Still showing nothing, can't seem to get a reading at all, not even us. Something must be masking the signal. Try the ship."

Looking at his friend reflectively Archer opened the communicator. "Archer to Enterprise," he began.

"Hang on Capt'n, it isn't working, there's no signal tone."

Archer closed the communicator and tried again – no tone, clearly something was blanketing all signals. Wordlessly he handed the instrument back to Trip who quickly checked it over before shaking his head. "Nothin' wrong with it," he muttered zipping it back into his sleeve pocket before going over towards the lights in the walls. "Still feels like rock," he said, "no heat from the lights but it's definitely warmer down here."

"Can you see anything down the forks?" Jon was getting impatient, he hated to be inactive, to feel anything less than in total control. Trip knew him too well to be offended however and moved off a short way down the fork to the right. "More of the same here Capt'n," he shouted, "but it's heading uphill again, I'll try the other way."

He glanced over at the captain as he crossed the junction. Jon was leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed, he was bearing up but Trip wasn't sure how much longer he could be expected to keep going without a proper break. Will power alone could only take you just so far. He was aware that he had lost all sense of time since coming underground, with their instruments not working and no natural light time was deceptive. 

Turning back to the left fork he could see that the path continued to descend though it no longer zigzagged but seemed to stretch into the distance farther than he could see. He took a step forwards and as he passed them the lights in the wall seemed to brighten. Puzzled he stepped forwards again watching the walls so that he failed to see the red light that suddenly pulsed brightly in front of him down the path. When it pulsed the second time he caught it in his peripheral vision but not in time to stop it engulfing him in a fiery red glow that held him immobilized for countless moments as thousands of red hot needles showered him in agony.                                     

TBC


	3. Stranded Chapter 3

STRANDED

By Vanishingp2000

A/N Thank you all for the kind reviews, I really appreciate them.

Email: vanishingp@supawoman.com 

Rating PG 13 – English –Adventure/Drama/Friendship NO SLASH

Disclaimer: Enterprise is owned by Paramount. I offer them and the cast and crew my grateful thanks for bringing us such wonderful entertainment. This story was written entirely for fun, not profit and is not intended to infringe copyright in any way.

Archive: Yes but please let me know where.

Summary: Trip and Archer are stranded on a strange planet with their very survival at stake.

Chapter 3.

"We have reached the rendezvous point Sub Commander but there's no sign of the shuttle," Mayweather reported from the Conn.

"Neither can I find any sign of them on sensors Ensign, however, we have arrived before the appointed time so we shall wait. I'm sure you can find plenty to occupy your time productively."

From his station across the bridge from T'Pol Lieutenant Reed looked on anxiously. He checked his own instruments for any sign of the shuttle. Something wasn't right, he could feel it but he could find no evidence to back up his hunch. Not yet at least.

*****************************

As suddenly as it had appeared the red light vanished releasing Trip to fall to the ground unconscious. His cries had alerted the captain who was frantically dragging himself to the fork to be met by the sight of his friend lying where he had fallen on the uneven ground, fresh blood appearing on his pant's leg and a nasty bruise developing on his right temple where he had hit the ground. 

"Trip," Jon called repeatedly as he eased himself to the floor to drag himself towards the engineer. There was no sign of the lights – either the brighter ones in the tunnel or the red pulse so Jon had no clue as to what had happened. Reaching his friend he reached a slightly shaky hand to feel for a pulse and sighed with relief to find one in Trip's neck, weak but steady.

As Archer eased him gently onto his back Trip's eyes began to flutter followed by a deep groan as he struggled towards consciousness. "Take it easy, just lie still," Jon urged worried by his friend's pallor in the strange light. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure Capt'n," Trip whispered, then more strongly as he became more aware, "the walls started glowin' then I couldn't move. It felt like I was on fire, red needles all over me." He shuddered weakly moving his head from side to side as if searching for the cause of his discomfort.

"Ease up a little when you're ready," Jon said, "so I can get the pack off. Your leg is bleeding again and you've a nasty bruise on your temple."

Slowly Trip did as he was bid, or tried to, his head was swimming and his leg was busy reminding him just what he had done to it yesterday. He eased back down as Jon pulled the pack towards him and closed his eyes against the pulsing lights. As soon as Archer had retrieved the medkit and a canteen of water he slipped the pack back under Tucker's head as a pillow before offering him a little water.

"Thanks Capt'n," Tucker's voice was stronger this time but he kept his eyes closed to alleviate the dizziness. Archer meanwhile was cutting away more of Trip's pants leg to check on his leg wound. The dressing he had put in place the day before was soaked with blood, some of it fresh, due, in part at least to the exertion but no doubt also to whatever had just attacked his friend. Tucker lay still beneath his ministrations but looked more relaxed when the job was finished and Archer tied off the bandage once again.

"I've been thinking Capt'n," he said struggling to sit up a little. "I think I was just scanned."

"It wasn't like any scan we've seen before."

"No," Trip conceded, "but our scans aren't registering anything, must be a totally different system." He spoke slowly, slurring his words slightly but his voice was getting stronger all the time and Archer was relieved to see him open his eyes and focus on him without too much difficulty.

"I sure wouldn't want to be scanned like that too often," the captain offered.

"No." Tucker chuckled slightly easing himself fully into a sitting position and dragging himself backwards to lean against the wall. "Thing is we don't know where we go from here. I mean did we pass and can we carry on or what?"

"Enterprise should be at the rendezvous by now," Archer offered, "we could just sit tight."

"As temptin' as that sounds I don't think it's an option Capt'n." Remember how this planet didn't show on our sensors, I reckon the whole thing is shielded by whatever is blocking our instruments. In fact I wouldn't even bet on that ion storm being genuine either."

"If that's the case let's just hope Enterprise doesn't get caught in the trap as well. Looks like we'd better find our own way out of here."

Tucker nodded somberly. "Just give me a minute Capt'n and I'll try taking a few more steps down here, you can keep yer eyes open for flashing lights."

*************************

"Sub Commander," Reed's voice cut across the almost silent bridge. "There are traces of a recent ion storm only two parsecs away from the Captain's proposed flight path."

"How recent Lieutenant?"

"Within the past forty-eight hours, but, it's strange, it must have been very localised as there's no sign of it having passed here."

"Is there any sign of debris?" 

Reed thought he could detect a note of concern from the impassive Vulcan. "None at all that I can see." Reed reassured them all, earning himself a slightly relieved smile from Hoshi. Lack of debris was one thing but there was still no sign of the shuttle.

"Keep looking Lieutenant," T'Pol ordered as she once again perched on the edge of the captain's chair.

*************************

Trip pulled himself slowly to his feet using the wall as a prop. He felt dreadful, cold and shaky inside while every nerve was still raw, especially those in his leg. He didn't want the captain to see how bad he was feeling though, he had enough to contend with with his own leg.

"Reckon I'll just try another step or two Capt'n," he said forcing a liveliness into his voice.

"Right I'll watch the lights but only a few steps at a time." Archer wasn't fooled by Trip's act, they had been friends for too long and he knew well how stubborn the younger man could be. But truth be told their options were severely limited so he set himself to watch the lights.

Tucker gingerly took one step and then another and when nothing untoward happened he advanced another half dozen steps along the dimly lit corridor before turning back to face Archer. "You see that Capt'n?" he queried.

"Nothing's happened."

Trip looked surprised. "Sure has from here, it's getting lighter all the time." He glanced down the corridor and then hurriedly back at Archer, his friend was barely visible any more whilst up ahead it was almost as bright as day.

Quickly hobbling back to the captain Trip was relieved, although vaguely surprised, to still be able to reach him. "You really saw nothin' any different?" he asked.

Archer shook his head. "You took eight or nine steps down the passage and then stopped, lights didn't change at all."

"Wow," Trip exclaimed, "well I don't know what to make of it Capt'n but I reckon from here on in we stick together." So saying he reached down and gathered up their meagre supplies before offering his hand to his friend to help him back to his feet.

Once Archer was ready they advanced slowly down the passage and this time both could see the lights growing brighter around them. They stopped again as the lights intensified, becoming too bright to see and gradually they became aware of a strange quiet as all sounds seemed to diminish as the lights grew brighter. Sensations too disappeared and they found themselves unable to move.

Gradually the lights diminished and all of their senses came back full force. Archer almost stumbled, crying out as his weight came onto his broken leg. Trip tightened his grip round his friend's waist giving him support before looking around him as the lights dimmed enough to allow them to see.

The passageway had gone and they no longer stood on a sloping rocky floor instead, stretching around them as far as the eye could see was a bleak desolate landscape. "Well I'll be……" Trip exclaimed, not too sure what to make of it. "Desert," he said disgustedly, easing them over to a rocky outcrop with some degree of shade and helping Jon to sit down. "What the hell happened there?"

"Some kind of transporter?" Jon wondered.

"Maybe, but if so where are we now? The same planet? Light years away?"

"Try your scanner," Jon suggested. Trip quickly took the instrument out and activated it, nothing. He shrugged. "Chances are it's the same place then," he reasoned. "Worth trying the communicator?"

Wordlessly Archer took it out of his pocket but there was no activating beep when he opened it, not that he had really expected one. "Nope," he shook his head. "Hot here isn't it?"

Trip grimaced but gave no reply, Jon knew full well how he felt about deserts. He looked around, at a loss for the moment what to do. Sand was hard enough to walk on at the best of times, with a broken leg? Well that didn't bear thinking about. The rocky outcrop where they were sitting extended above them for some distance and did at least have a firmer footing. He shrugged, it looked vaguely familiar. 

_First things first,_ he thought taking his jacket off and holding out his hand for the captains. He rolled them up and squeezed them into the backpack, in this crazy place there was no telling when they would need then again. He looked over at Archer noting the lines of strain and exhaustion on his friend's face, he had to find a place for him to rest. Trip looked more closely at the outcrop. It formed one side of a wide valley that looked as though it was the route of a substantial river should it ever rain. The empty riverbed was now a sea of sand stretching miles into the distance, shimmering in the heat. A few boulders were evidence of the water's power and across the valley a few straggly trees struggled for life, clinging to the cliff top.

Tucker stared at the far valley, uneasy thoughts clamouring for his attention. Something about those trees. _Dammit, it can't be, he berated himself for his stupidity. __But this place isn't normal, it doesn't follow the rules._

"Capt'n," he ventured, "I think I've been here before."

"All deserts look alike you said, heat and dry air."

"Not this one. I know it's crazy but if you add the river an a storm and make it real dark and misty I swear this is where I fell. The shuttle should be over the next rise, if it survived the flood."

"Trip," Archer admonished, "you're exhausted, that's crazy."

"Like I said Capt'n, I may be beat but I'm willin' to bet the missing bit of my sleeve is still attached to that tree up there."

"But how?" Archer asked, no longer disbelieving. He was willing to trust his friend's instincts. But what the hell did it all mean?

"Beats me," the engineer replied, "I'm a little too tired to think straight at the moment. One thing is for sure we can't stay here all day." He flung an arm upwards pointing at the blazing sun which had risen noticeably higher since they had arrived.

"I'm for heading back to the shuttle," Archer suggested.

Trip looked doubtfully at the sandy riverbed they would have to cross. Archer read his mind. "The sand is hard packed, it will be the easiest walking we're going to get around here," he pointed out.

Tucker grimaced. "How about if we move two steps over there and see whether we end up back in the passageway?"

"What good would that do?"

"Might tell us if there's anyone around. You know, controlling things."

Archer looked at him strangely. "You think the desert was for your benefit?"

Trip shrugged. "Don't know, the more I think about it the surer I am that I was scanned. Beats me why they couldn't have chosen somewhere pleasant like Tarpen Springs or Frisco?"

"Rather this than Mars without a suit," Archer pointed out.

"True." Tucker was scouting around the outcrop, poking at the rocks but all the while being careful to keep away from the point where they had 'arrived' in the desert. Just in case. After five minutes or so he gave up his search. "Nothing," he said in exasperation, "they just look like ordinary rocks to me."

"OK," Archer said decisively, "help me up. Let's try it your way. At least it will be cooler."

Tucker gave him a smile before wiping his brow with his sleeve and once again gathering their things together. "Here goes," he said moving them back to the 'arrival' spot. They waited but nothing happened. "Hello," Trip called, feeling slightly foolish but feeling his temper start to rise along with the heat. He bit his tongue, the captain needed him and pointless displays of temper wouldn't solve anything. "Well," he said finally, "plan B?"

"'Fraid so," Jon grimaced, preparing himself for the walk ahead.

***********************************

Half an hour later they were hot, tired and aching all over but both were filled with a sense of achievement. The trek across the riverbed had been achieved without incident and they were resting under an outcrop that, for the moment at least, was in the shade. Trip took a gulp of water from his canteen debating the wisdom of climbing up to look for the shuttle on his own. There was always the chance of one of them 'disappearing' if they separated but just crossing the riverbed had been further agony for the captain. He settled for exploring the immediate area while Archer rested as best he could.

"I don't think splitting up is an option," Jon interrupted, reading his thoughts. 

"We'll rest up here while we have the shade then," Trip said, looking over at the captain, noting the determined look on his face. Jon was looking up at the sky, tracing the sun's progress and his gaze grew reflective as Tucker watched him.

"What?" he asked.

"Look at the horizon over there." Archer said, pointing to Trip's left. 

"What am I looking at?"

"There's a heat haze where the mountains meet the sky but look what happens when the sand meets the horizon. Unless my eyes are deceiving me…."

"The effect is different," Tucker interrupted excitedly, "no haze."

"Exactly."

"But that's not natural," Trip stated, "is it?" he asked less decisively.

"Not so's I've seen in any desert before."

"If it's not natural then manufactured," Tucker mused slowly. "A biosphere?" he wondered.

"If so it's a damn big one."

Trip chewed his lip thinking. "How's that help us?" he asked.

"Not too sure," Archer shrugged, "but at least it means you're not imagining things."

"That's good to know," Trip replied dryly, thinking. "If this is a biosphere there must be a control centre somewhere, and someone controlling it."

Archer nodded. "We need to find that centre, or someone to talk to. You know, it would also explain why our sensors have been blocked."

"I reckon any controls are probably 'inside', maybe we were gettin' too close before and that's why they moved us."

"Could be," Archer agreed, "I guess we need to find another way in."

"You realise we're back where we started, shuttle or mountain?" Trip asked.

Jon pulled a face, "What state were the shuttle's engines?" he asked slowly.

"Better'n some parts of the pod, I mean, they are damaged but I could repair them. Can't do anything 'bout the screen though, there's no way we could enter orbit, even supposin' we could leave the biosphere."

"Who said anything about leaving the sphere," Jon asked. "I'm getting tired of walking, just thought maybe we could travel in style."

Trip laughed. "Let's just hope the pod wasn't washed away in the flood then," he said getting slowly to his feet. "If we're gonna do this Capt'n now's as good a time as any. The sun's off this side of the valley and I wouldn't want to try climbing it in the dark."

"Good point," said Archer wearily putting his hand up towards his friend. "With a bit of luck this will be the last mountain we have to climb for a while." As he got to his feet he failed to see a red light pulsing at the top of the mountain, it dipped quickly out of sight as they started searching for the best route.

TBC

  



	4. Stranded Chapter 4

STRANDED

By Vanishingp2000

**A/N Many thanks to everyone who has reviewed my story. It really spurs me on to write more. Thank you.**

Email: vanishingp@supawoman.com 

Rating PG 13 – English –Adventure/Drama/Friendship NO SLASH

Disclaimer: Enterprise is owned by Paramount. I offer them and the cast and crew my grateful thanks for bringing us such wonderful entertainment. This story was written entirely for fun, not profit and is not intended to infringe copyright in any way.

Archive: Yes but please let me know where.

Summary: Trip and Archer are stranded on a strange planet with their very survival at stake.

Chapter 4.

Hours had passed and still no sign had been found of the missing shuttle. The Bridge was filled with a quiet tension, each of the senior officers had remained at their posts way beyond the end of their duty shifts, each determined to be there to help their missing comrades.

Hoshi stretched surreptitiously trying to ease the taut muscles at the back of her neck. She had been sending a continuous signal for hours but there had been no response, no sign that her message had been received. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and ran another diagnostic, something about the bandwidth of the signal bothered her. _That's it, she realised excitedly. It was obvious now that she had seen it. A small part of the signal was being blocked, or more accurately absorbed, rather than being sent on with the rest of the message. She might have continued to miss it except for the fact that the missing part of the signal was the transmitting wave, without it no one would ever receive the message._

******************************

"Hang on Capt'n." Trip gasped as he hauled himself painfully over an overhang, swearing under his breath as his leg caught yet another rock. He was quite sure they were moving his way deliberately. "Nearly there," panting he let himself lie still for a moment to catch his breath, before looking down from the summit to where he had left Archer perched precariously on a ledge barely inches wide. Lying flat on his stomach he reached his hand towards his friend. "You do the steering and I'll do the pulling," he said, "but take it steady so's I can be sure we won't slip."

"Not my favourite choice," Jon called up from below, reaching upwards gingerly until his hand met Tuckers. "Ready when you are."

Trying to guide his broken leg away from the rock face Archer used his left hand to steer and pushed up with his right leg to give Trip what help he could. He was painfully aware that his friend was as exhausted as he was and neither would normally have considered climbing a mountain in this condition. However, these were far from the best of circumstances. Somehow they made it and Trip pulled Archer up beside him with a grateful sigh before collapsing back onto the ground.

It was getting dark and they still had to find the shuttle so Trip allowed himself only a short rest before clambering to his feet again. He struggled over to the trees shaking his legs to get the kinks out, there, just as he had predicted was the missing bit of his sleeve, confirmation if he had still needed it that this was indeed the valley he had scrambled through before. "I'm getting to really hate this place," he murmured showing Archer his trophy. "It'll be a while before I want to go hiking again."

Archer smiled. "Can you see anything?" he asked.

Tucker moved further across the ridge until he could see into the next valley. He laughed, "It's a bit like Noah," he said.

"Come again?"

"The Ark was stranded on a mountain top wasn't it?" Trip asked. "Well the shuttle has been wedged up against that ledge we climbed over, looks to be fairly stable. Might be our luck is changing."

"Perhaps we should have just stayed put," Archer suggested.

"Only if you felt like drowning."

"True," Jon acknowledged tiredly. "I take it all the water has gone now?"

"Looks to be dry as a bone, course there's no tellin' if the water damaged the systems."

"They're sealed watertight," Jon began before realising he had been suckered. Trust Trip to try and lighten the situation.

An hour and a half later it was all but dark. Trip eased Archer back into the shuttle, having assured himself that the vessel was stable, and sank gratefully into the navigator's seat. There was plenty to do but he figured he'd just give himself a minute or two.

Tucker's head dropped suddenly to his chest and he jerked his eyes open. _Dammit,_ he thought, _there's no time to sleep. He looked at the chronometer but realised he didn't know what time they had reached the shuttle. The captain was draped along the bench to the side of the shuttle. He looked grey and his breathing was pained but Trip thought he was asleep. He wouldn't disturb him. He pulled the backpack towards him from where it sat on the floor and took a long drink of water before getting slowly to his feet trying to ignore the stabbing pain from his leg as the blood started flowing more freely again. He moved to the equipment locker and quietly took out the tool kit and set to work to see which of the ship's systems could be restored._

*****************************

Trip eased himself out carefully from beneath the wrecked pilot's console and lay back on the floor trying to stretch his cramped muscles, every one of which seemed to be complaining at once. He rolled his head to the side at the sound of Archer's voice.

"How's it going?"

Tucker grimaced. "I've got the engines online but I'm still working on the controls to fly her with," he said, groaning slightly as he got painfully to his feet. He handed the captain a water pouch. "How are you doing?"

"Fine, thanks for letting me sleep."

The engineer wiggled his eyebrows, "not a lot you coulda done lying there," he said, "might as well get some rest."

"Thanks anyway." He looked past his friend through the broken view screen out at the rock face beyond. "Anything happened out there?"

"Got damn cold during the night, but it seems to be warming up again now."

Archer noticed for the first time that he was covered in a thermal blanket and Tucker had put his jacket back on. "How long _have I been asleep?" he asked suspiciously._

Trip rubbed his face with his hands. "Don't know exactly," he said, "all night I guess."

Archer looked in frustration at the stubborn engineer. "Anything I can do?" he asked deliberately.

"Well, seein as how you do know a bit about flying this thing perhaps you could suggest some way of jury rigging the console?" Trip suggested flippantly.

Archer let it pass, his friend looked totally exhausted and he recognised the levity as Trip's way of keeping himself going. "How about a cup of coffee?" he asked. 

Trip's head shot round and he looked askance at the captain. Then he smiled as he realised his friend's intent. "I'll put the kettle on," he said, levering himself to his feet and handing Jon the cups left from their previous brew, _how long ago was that? _He found he didn't know. He set a kettle of water onto his jury-rigged hot plate and then sat back and stared at the pilot's console trying to think. Slowly a smile spread over his face as an idea broke through the fog in his brain.

Without bothering to get back to his feet Trip half crawled, half dragged himself over to the console and reached under it for his tools. He worked quietly for a few minutes while the captain watched without interrupting until the engineer sat back with a smile. "That should do it Capt'n," he said confidently.

"Well done," Archer replied warmly, "we'll try it as soon as we've had our coffee."

He was rewarded with a grin that quickly turned into a yawn as Tucker eased himself to lean back against the rear bench. "Why don't you lie down for a while?" Archer asked, concerned.

Trip shook his head. "If I stop now I doubt I'd be able to start again anytime soon." He pulled a face, "I don't know about you but I'd kinda like to get out of here."

"No argument here," Jon agreed. "How much manoeuvrability will we have?"

"Not too bad but we may have a job to keep the speed down enough to let us steer." 

"In other words 'wait and see."

"Yep."

****************************

"Hang on Capt'n, here we go." Trip sat on the edge of the pilot's seat, which had been partly crushed in the initial crash. In his hands he held his makeshift control panel and he leaned forwards so as to be able to see past the wreck of the view screen. Outside dawn had broken and although the sun was still low over the horizon he could feel the heat rising up from the ground and into the shuttle. It must have already been into the thirties. He had helped Archer to sit in the navigator's seat so as to be able to see what was going on and he could feel the man's anticipation as he sat beside him.

The shuttle lifted slowly off the ground before hovering unevenly as Trip fought the unfamiliar controls. He decided that more height would be safer to keep them away from the mountains and he eased up gently, cursing as a side wind blew down the valley side as they got higher. Finally he found the right balance of control and was able to move the shuttle where he wanted it to go. "Which way? Capt'n?" he asked.

"How about the opposite direction from yesterday, we want to find another way inside after all."

"Fair enough," Trip replied turning the small craft in a wide arc, which took up most of the width of the valley, before setting off over the ridge that had marked the valley's end. 

"You see any kind of structure?" Archer asked.

"Nope," Tucker shook his head, "I'll head for those mountains to the west, may be there's something beyond them."

Some minutes later Trip wriggled round in his seat. "What do you make of that Capt'n?" he asked pointing towards the western horizon.

"It's the boundary of the bio sphere."

"Yep, you can see the uneven haze but I reckon it's not just the haze that's uneven." Trip's voice had risen as he began to get excited. "There's something disrupting the energy flow, maybe we could get outside of the sphere."

"Maybe we don't want to get outside of the sphere," Jon pointed out wryly, "the atmosphere out there may not be too pleasant!"

Tucker pulled a face. "You may have a point there," he admitted dryly, "but one way or another the way out has to be out there."

"Let's just take it one step at a time. Head over there and we'll have a look see."

Trip set the shuttle in motion again heading towards the distant horizon. The closer they got the more he was convinced that they were approaching an energy field. He could almost feel it in the air, it made the hairs on his arms stand up and prickle. He said as much to Jon. "Is that the professional engineer's description?" his friend laughed.

"It's the professional engineer's opinion," Trip replied slowing the shuttle still some distance away, "something's not right." 

As he spoke the red pulsing light appeared behind the shuttle out of their line of sight. It seemed to be waiting but then began pulsing ever more brightly until the beams of light began to encompass the shuttle itself.

"Whoa," Trip gasped as the shuttle suddenly began to race forwards again. Frantically he adjusted his controls to try and change the direction but to no avail. "Hang on Capt'n," he shouted, "we're being pulled in." Out of control the small craft quickly built up speed as the light enveloped it and hurtled both the vehicle and its occupants at a dizzying speed towards the crackling horizon. Inside both men watched in helpless fascination, now totally immobile as the ever more colourful waves of energy approached.

TBC

  



	5. Stranded Chapter 5

STRANDED

By Vanishingp2000

**Thank you once again for the wonderful reviews. I really appreciate them.**

P.S The biospheres appeared in Chapter 3.

Email: vanishingp@supawoman.com 

Rating PG 13 – English –Adventure/Drama/Friendship NO SLASH

Disclaimer: Enterprise is owned by Paramount. I offer them and the cast and crew my grateful thanks for bringing us such wonderful entertainment. This story was written entirely for fun, not profit and is not intended to infringe copyright in any way.

Archive: Yes but please let me know where.

Chapter 5.

Sub Commander T'Pol was worried, not that she would ever admit it to anyone, but the shuttle's disappearance was a mystery and her logical mind did not like mysteries. The fact that the shuttle also contained two people whom she had come to regard as friends was the cause of her discomfort, she could, at least admit this to herself. However, it was not logical to spend time worrying that could be better spent searching for answers. Despite herself she struggled to consign her worries entirely to the back of her mind.

Ensign Sato's discovery some hours ago of the blocked transmitter wave had caused hopes to rise among the human bridge crew but so far, they had been unable to find the source of the blockage. However, T'Pol was confident that further searching would reveal the answers they sought and so she turned her attention back to her monitors and while she searched a small part of her mind continued, unbidden, to worry.

***************************

Archer lay over the wrecked pilot's console where he had been thrown when Tucker lost control of the shuttle. The lights were gone, as was the crackling from the electrical field at the boundary. Turning his head to look out of the broken screen in front of him Jon's view was blocked by several large leafy branches protruding into the shuttle. The effect was to leave the craft in semi darkness and Jon was uncertain as to the time of day as a consequence. Gradually his eyes adjusted and he pushed himself carefully back into his seat, looking through the half-light to find his friend.

Trip was still out cold. He was on the floor with the remains of the pilot's chair on top of him. It hadn't withstood the rigours of a second crash and had sheered free of its fixings to become entangled with the engineer. Memories of the crash crept back into  Archer's mind. He could see the energy field in his mind's eye as they had been drawn rapidly towards it and pictured the look on Trip's face as he had fought to move to control the shuttle. But, once again they had been held immobile, unable to move a muscle and as soon as they shot through the barrier the shuttle had careered out of control before ending up here. Wherever 'here' was. 

Carefully Jon leaned over to prise the chair off his friend without causing him further injury. This day was just going from bad to worse. It looked as though Trip had been thrown from the chair before it was sheered from its mountings and he lay on his right side. From where he sat the captain could see bruises appearing on his friend's face from the impact with the seat and his right leg was, once again pinned beneath him. Archer levered himself out of his seat and onto the floor beside Tucker. Gently he rolled the engineer onto his back freeing his leg, which he straightened carefully before clamping his hand down hard as blood started flowing again. "Damn," he muttered looking around for a clean rag to use as a temporary bandage. Finally he managed to reach the backpack and he drew out the medkit and this time used a strip of bandage to act as a tourniquet, he had to stop the bleeding, Trip couldn't afford to keep losing blood at this rate. 

Tucker's eyes were moving beneath his closed lids and he began to shift slightly as Archer tightened the tourniquet. "Take it easy," Jon soothed as he worked. He unwound the old bandage and cleaned the freshly opened wound before loosening the pressure on the tourniquet. The blood flow had eased but he left the wound uncovered for the time being to check when it stopped altogether. "Haven't we been here before?" Trip's voice was shaky and Jon turned to look at him as he spoke.

"Hey, how are you doing?"

"Been better," Trip admitted, attempting to lift himself off the floor.

"No you don't," Archer said, pushing him back down, "just keep still 'till your leg stops bleeding.

Tucker sighed in exasperation. "Where'd we end up?" he asked.

"Not too sure but I don't think we're in the desert anymore." Archer indicated the foliage finding its way into the shuttle.

"Hmmph, maybe the climate's just changed again."

"Good point but where'd the trees come from, there weren't that many in either of the other climate areas."

"Guess we'll just have to go outside again and find out." Trip had his eyes closed again and was breathing rapidly as Jon tended to his leg. It had stopped bleeding but the constant exertion and repeated knocks had prevented its healing. Quickly Archer completed his task, trying to be as gentle as possible but despite his care beads of sweat were breaking out along Tucker's brow before he had finished. When he was done he slipped the backpack back under his friend's head and searched through the medkit looking for an analgesic. 

"None left," Trip muttered, "I wasn't gonna tell you but you had the last of it during the night, you were movin' about so much I figured you'd fall off the bench if you didn't manage to calm down a bit.

Archer pulled a face. "Just rest up for a bit at least," he said, "let it settle." 

Tucker nodded slightly but didn't speak. He felt totally spent but he didn't dare sleep. The way things were he didn't trust that he wouldn't wake up to find that the climate had changed yet again. Instead he kept his eyes closed until the pain in his leg had subsided somewhat before opening them and looking wearily at his friend. "We grounded?" he asked.

Archer nodded ruefully. "I don't see us flying out of here, back to second class travel I'm afraid."

"Well, look on the bright side," Trip said with forced cheerfulness, "at least this time we got time to pack a bag."

"What would you like to bring?" Archer asked bemused. The emergency packs contained everything essential for survival.

"Tools, if we can get inside you never know what we could do with tools. Besides we can stock up with more water and protein bars. Speaking of which…."

"Sure." Archer dragged himself over to the storage locker and took out the last of the food and water rations. He put the bulk of these into the pack and then handed Tucker a protein bar, keeping one for himself.

"You hear that?" Trip asked, levering himself up on one arm so that he could eat.

Archer shook his head. "What am I listening for?"

"It's real quiet, no rain, no wind, nothing, not even any birds. You ever been in a forest without birds or wildlife?" 

"You mean this is the planet outside of the biosphere and nothing's left alive?"

"Not sure what I mean," Tucker admitted thoughtfully. "Can't be toxic to us though," he said indicating the broken screen, "or we'd be dead by now."

"True enough," Jon agreed. "Could it be a second sphere? I mean, could spheres be separated by an energy barrier rather than a physical one?"

"Don't see why not." Trip pulled a face, "would need a helluva lot of power though. Malcolm's force field is only sustainable for a short time because of the power drain, we haven't cracked that yet."

"So," Jon mused, "we could be looking for a power supply."

"Without sensors."

"Something caused us to crash."

Trip nodded thoughtfully. "Something built up the shuttle's own power and used it against us."

"How do you mean?"

"I'd stopped if you remember, we were just hovering." Archer nodded as his friend continued. "Then suddenly the lights appeared again and the engines went to maximum all by themselves. Or…" he left his sentence unfinished, holding the captain's gaze.

"Or, an outside agency powered them up for us," Archer finished for him. "But why?"

"Who knows," Tucker said in exasperation. "Nothin' about this place makes any sense." He stopped, staring off into the distance. "Unless."

Archer waited, he had seen that look before many times, usually when Tucker was working on some project or other.

"If something is feedin' off our energy to develop its own power," Trip began, thinking things through as he went along, "then maybe we could trick it into powering up our sensors." As he spoke he pulled himself slowly to his feet and went to examine the shuttle's power cells. "If I routed sensor power through the shuttle's grid maybe they'd feed it back to us."

"Everytime they do that we end up some place else," Archer pointed out.

"Yes but suppose we were already someplace else and were ready to use the hand scanner to read the shuttle's sensors. We may not get much but sometimes…."

"Something's better than nothing." Archer concluded. "You just may have something there, it's worth a try anyhow."

Trip smiled and set to to jury rig the controls again. "We'll have to be quick with the scanner," he pointed out, "so I'll rig the sensors on a time control. How far away do you think we should be?"

"Couple hundred metres?" Archer suggested. "Chances are only the shuttle will be 'taken.' Better give us twenty minutes or so to get clear."

Tucker nodded and worked for a few minutes. "Ready to go when you are," he said finally.

Jon tightened the straps of the backpack and grabbed hold of the bench beside him to begin getting to his feet. Trip smiled and held out his hand again. "Wonder where it'll end up?"

"May not go anywhere, it's not flight worthy any more."

"I'm not too sure I'm road worthy right about now either," Tucker grimaced easing them out of the shuttle once more. He adjusted the backpack into a more comfortable position on his shoulder and then took Archer's weight again leading them away from the shuttle through what proved to be dense forest. What little sky they could see was bright with sunlight but beneath the canopy they moved through a dimly lit green environment that soon had them perspiring freely. The sand may have gone but the tropical temperatures remained. The ground was, however, relatively flat for which they were both supremely grateful.

Fifteen minutes later Trip settled Archer against a tree and removed the scanner from his pocket. Despite his plans he remained sceptical. They hadn't been able to take any sensor readings of the planet so far and he was far from certain that they would succeed now but it did feel good to be taking the initiative for a change rather than always reacting to whatever was thrown at them.

With a minute to go they were both anxiously looking in the direction of the shuttle. It was no longer visible at all but if the sensors were activated they wouldn't have to be able to see it. "That should be it," Trip said at last, "shuttle's powering up." He kept his eyes glued to the scanner wanting to be sure to find anything there was to see. Archer meanwhile looked over in the direction of the shuttle.

Suddenly they heard a subtle change in the air, a gentle humming in the distance. It was followed by a diffused light that rapidly grew brighter. The noise of the shuttle's engines reached them through the forest as they began to strain, raising the decibels to painful levels. Then as suddenly as it had appeared the noise was gone leaving behind a silence that was deafening in its intensity. "Wow," Tucker stood transfixed, staring at the scanner as if willing it to speak.

"Well?" Archer demanded impatiently.

"Sort of," Tucker exclaimed, "but only for a moment. Just for a second there the energy readings were off the scale and then, nothing." He played back the readings, holding the scanner for the captain to see. "The readings came just before the noise stopped," Tucker elaborated, "not when the build up began."

"So it wasn't until maximum power drain that the sensor block was lifted," Jon surmised, nodding to himself.

"Uh huh," Trip agreed, "but I can only get a general direction indicator from this, no idea of distance."

"Better than we had before. At least it's something to go on."

Tucker looked over at his friend, summoning up his reserves again, willing himself to be positive. With no indication of distance they could be about to set off on a fool's errand but, as Jon had said, _at least it was something._

"Which way?"

Trip pointed over to where they had left the shuttle. "Back the way we came, we get to see whether the shuttle moved or not."

"Great," Jon said sarcastically, "never did like a mystery."

Tucker's laugh accompanied them as they set off to retrace their steps in search of the source of the energy readings.

******************************

"Sub Commander," Reed's voice was close to a shout. 

"Lieutenant?" T'Pol raised an eyebrow at his excitement.

"An energy spike Sir, just for a moment." Reed had his voice back under tight control but T'Pol could hear the undercurrent of excitement.

"Were you able to pinpoint it Mr Reed?"

"General location only I'm afraid but there's something else. Unless I'm very much mistaken I also picked up a Starfleet beacon. Again just for a moment, the jamming was lifted."

"Where?" T'Pol asked concisely.

"A planet, two light years away."

T'Pol crossed to the science station. "There is no mention of a planet in the Vulcan database," she said calmly.

"With all due respect Sub Commander there wouldn't be any mention in our database either if we hadn't just seen that energy spike." Reed forced himself to remain calm. "Our sensors are unable to see it."

"I did not say that I doubted your findings Lieutenant," T'Pol was unfazed. "Are we able to enter orbit around this planet?"

"I got the location of the planet accurately," Reed mused. "Yes we should be safe enough in a high orbit and in the meantime I'll work on locating the source of the beacon."

T'Pol nodded in acquiescence and sat once again in the captain's chair, using the seat controls to access the science station so that she could add her own research to the rescue efforts.

****************************

"It's gone alright," Archer sighed, "doesn't look as though it moved at all, must have been transported." From where they stood they could see the ground that had been flattened by the shuttle's unorthodox landing, together with the evidence of its passage through the energy barrier in the shape of mangled trees and bruised earth.

Tucker was looking at the scanner, it wasn't reading anything now but he was able to use it to point them in the rough direction of the energy reading. "You ready Capt'n?" he asked pointing with the device, "looks like we go this way."

The going was slow as they had to take care not to trip over any of the numerous roots reaching up through the undergrowth and by the time they had travelled a few hundred metres they were both more than ready to stop for a rest. Trip sat down carefully on a particularly bulky root and took stock of his surroundings. It wasn't possible to see far because of the dense growth but only a few metres away he could see the sunlight glinting on a shiny surface. Intrigued he got back to his feet and went over to take a closer look.

"Hey Capt'n," he called back to his friend, "there's some kinda structure here. It's completely overgrown."

"Can you get a look at it?"

Tucker was struggling to pull away some of the foliage which had clearly been there for a very long time, some of the branches were thicker than his arms and were reluctant to be moved. Eventually he managed to clear a small opening, just big enough to crawl through. Once inside he decided that he was going to need the flashlight to see much so he eased back out and went to retrieve it.

"It's bigger than I thought," he reported, "very even surface, some kind of metal alloy I reckon. I'll take the light and go and have a closer look but without tools I doubt we're gonna be able to uncover all of it."

"May not need to," Archer said, "if it's an entrance we only need to find a door."

"Doesn't look like anyone's been here in a long time."

"At least it does look as though 'someone' was here once."

Tucker's reply was lost as he crawled back beneath the undergrowth and Archer waited as patiently as he could for the engineer to return. It wasn't long before he emerged looking even more dishevelled than before and brushing leaves out of his hair with his free hand. "It's empty," he moaned. "Looks like it was a living pod, you know like they have on Mars but it's obviously abandoned. The door was missin' so I could get inside but there was nothing left."

"If there was one pod there may well have been others," Archer surmised, "we may have stumbled on a settlement." 

"Wonder how long ago they left?"

"Without sensors we only have the foliage to go by," Jon smiled ruefully. "Don't suppose you can tell if we are anywhere near the power source?"

"No chance," Tucker spoke quickly.

"Why so sure?" Archer queried.

"'Cos that would mean our luck is changing." Trip pulled a face, "seriously though, there's no way of tellin'. We did come in the right direction but the sensors gave no indication of distance."

"Makes sense to have a look around while we're here though. If nothing else there may be a way back underground and I have a sneaking suspicion that that is where we will find the answers." 

Tucker nodded in agreement and put the flashlight back into the pack for safe keeping before making his way around the tree Archer was leaning against.

"Don't go out of earshot," Jon called, " and be ready to come back quickly if you see any lights."

"Don't worry," Trip said cheerfully, glad to have something positive to do, "I don't wanna be stranded here alone." He located the outer edge of the living pod and followed it around its circumference as best he could, it was almost completely overgrown with a tangled mess of roots and branches. A moment later he spotted another regular shaped mound to his right. "Hey, I think you were right Capt'n," he called, "there's another one here, just as overgrown." As he spoke he pushed some of the branches aside to reveal the side wall of the structure. He attempted to feel his way around it when it gave suddenly beneath his touch. "Ow," he yelled in annoyance as his momentum pulled him down on top of the foliage.

"You OK?" Jon's voice was thick with worry.

"Yeah," Trip mumbled, extricating himself with some difficulty. "The wall collapsed when I touched it, must be older than we thought."

"Be careful," Archer warned. 

"I wonder why they've been abandoned? I mean, did they start to fall down first or did that happen after the people left?" 

"We may never know," Jon watched his friend move carefully through trees, being careful to avoid the low branches that threatened to strike him as he went past. "Are you finding any artefacts that might give us a clue as to who or what they were?"

Trip shook his head. "From what I've seen so far it looks as though they took everything. Obviously didn't have to leave in a hurry."

"So, what have we got?" Archer wondered aloud. "A group of terraformers building a new life on a planet whose environment is hostile for them? Or was this their own world and it became uninhabitable so they had to build biospheres?"

"The biospheres seem to be workin' just fine."

"Fine for us maybe, how do we know the previous inhabitants needed an M class environment?"

"Now there's a thought." Tucker appeared from the undergrowth again. "I've found at least another ten pods Capt'n," he said. "All seem to be more or less the same, all empty but…." He stopped and stared thoughtfully into the distance.

"But," Jon prompted.

"But, I'm not so sure they were ever finished," Tucker said slowly. "I don't think they packed everything up so much as they never got here in the first place. Don't ask me why," he said eyeing Jon's doubtful expression, "call it a hunch, but the more I look around the more sure I am. Somethin' about those buildings says 'unfinished' to me."

Jon looked thoughtfully at his friend. Over the years he had come to rely on Trip's opinions a great deal and, with few exceptions, he trusted his judgement. Besides they had little more than hunches to go on at the moment. He peered through the canopy towards the sky suddenly aware of how much darker it seemed. The sun had gone and with it all trace of clear skies, they had been replaced by the gloomy magenta clouds of the other day. "Looks like we're in for more rain," he said, "and sooner rather than later by the looks of it. Any of those pods do for a shelter?"

"Sure," Tucker indicated the first pod he had found. "May not have a door but that one seems pretty secure to me, just like home." As he spoke the first drops of rain began to fall, large drops of cold water that forced their way through the canopy bouncing off the leaves as they passed. "Ugh," Trip moaned, "not again." Quickly he gathered up the pack and helped Archer over to the living pod. When they reached the hole in the foliage he dropped the pack and lowered his friend to the ground before dragging him as gently as he could through the hole and around the edge of the pod until they reached the door. Once the captain was settled inside he went back for the pack, finally dropping thankfully to the floor himself.

Archer was looking around carefully. The pod was roughly ten metres in diameter and apart from the missing door did seem completely intact but Trip was right, it felt, sterile. It was also totally empty. Glancing up he could make out the outline of the branches and roots covering the outside of the pod but visibility was going with each passing minute, diminishing in direct proportion to the noise of the rainfall on the roof which was rapidly becoming deafening. "We might as well make the most of the break," he said, raising his voice to be heard above the downpour. "Try and get some sleep, we'll carry on when the rain stops again."

Tucker nodded and lay on the hard floor trying to get comfortable. He heard Archer do the same and was relieved when the captain settled into an exhausted sleep. The rain increased in intensity, rapidly developing into a storm with winds whipping the branches against the trees and the sides of the pods, shrieking like banshees. Sometime during the night thunder and lightning arrived to contribute to the din and Trip stirred uneasily from a half sleep as the air around them sizzled with electricity and lightning strikes became almost continuous.

A sixth sense drew him closer to Jon sleeping on the floor beside him and he moved to protect his friend as the storm raged overhead, frightening in its intensity.

TBC

  



	6. Stranded Chapter 6

STRANDED

By Vanishingp2000

**A/N Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews I really appreciate them.**

Email: vanishingp@supawoman.com 

Rating PG 13 – English –Adventure/Drama/Friendship NO SLASH

Disclaimer: Enterprise is owned by Paramount. I offer them and the cast and crew my grateful thanks for bringing us such wonderful entertainment. This story was written entirely for fun, not profit and is not intended to infringe copyright in any way.

Archive: Yes but please let me know where.

Chapter 6.

Trip woke to the sound of water trickling and he let the soothing sound wash over him for a moment before opening his eyes. He could feel the sunlight on his face warming him and the memories of the night's storm seeped in slowly as his mind began to force him awake. The ground beneath him felt rough and uneven, as though something was sticking into his spine and he rolled over onto his side, opening his eyes slowly, squinting against the sunlight. Jon lay beneath his outstretched arm, still sleeping and beyond him Trip could see the trickling brook that had woken him as it ran down the mountainside, tumbling over rocks and tufted grass. _Tufted grass! He sat up abruptly as his mind registered the full impact of where they were. _Hellfire, it's happened again. _He thought, _how in hell did I miss that?__

Thinking back to the night before he recalled the violence of the storm, the almost continual lightning and he supposed that the transporting light must have got mixed up in all of that somehow. It was a sobering thought that he had been so exhausted that he hadn't realised it at the time. Soberly he took stock. He ached all over, from the blinding headache that he supposed came from being transported again through each of his muscles to his leg. On the bright side his leg wasn't bleeding and he definitely felt more rested. 

Gingerly he stood up and slowly stretched, taking a good look around. The terrain didn't look familiar. True they were in a rocky valley; about a third of the way up the side of a canyon by the looks of things, but everything was on a much grander scale than they had seen previously. The river that filled the valley floor was a mighty torrent of white water cascading along at a rapid pace, crossing that was NOT going to be an option. Above him the canyon towered towards the sky and he estimated its height at several thousand metres. The other side of the valley was still in shadow as the sun had not yet risen high enough to do more than creep over the rim of the far canyon.

Tucker sat back down frustrated. He was none too sure what to do next, true they had gradually found out a little more about this place but they were no closer to finding a way out and he was becoming increasingly worried about Jon. The captain was a fighter all the way but he had broken his leg, what? Three days ago now and was in dire need of medical attention. Medical attention Trip couldn't give him. Hell, they'd even run out of analgesics. How far could a man with a broken leg travel without pain relief? He squinted his eyes to look into the distance to see if he could find the edge of the biosphere. Trip was pretty sure they were still in a biosphere, what he wasn't so sure about was why? What had they done this time to be moved? Were they close to finding an answer again? "Maybe it wasn't anythin' to do with us," he muttered, unaware that he had spoken aloud until Jon replied, lying quietly beside him.

"What wasn't us?"

"The reason we were moved again," Trip spoke distractedly turning to check on his friend. Jon was pale and breathing shallowly but looked as determined as ever and his eyes were clear. Tucker put the back of his hand against the captain's forehead and was relieved to find that his temperature was normal, the conditions were ripe for infection. He was startled to find the captain repeating the gesture with him but smiled with understanding as Archer spoke.

"Just as likely you could pick up an infection as me."

"I'm fine," as he spoke Trip was hunting around for the backpack, momentarily fearing that it hadn't been transported with them when he remembered giving it to Jon as a pillow the night before. Sure enough, it was where he had left it. "Breakfast?" he asked lightly, "food for the mind."

Archer laughed lightly, struggling to sit up. "We been here before?" he asked, accepting Trip's help.

"Nope, this is altogether bigger. So this must be at least the third sphere we've been in."

"What did you mean, 'maybe it wasn't anything to do with us'?  Jon asked.

Tucker pulled a face, squinting up at the sky. "Have you noticed, every time we've been moved the weather has been real bad, at least the first and last time," he amended. "That time in the desert it did look as though the force field containin' the sphere was malfunctioning."

"So?" Archer asked not too sure he was following the engineer's reasoning.

"So, what if someone is looking out for us, moving us before the conditions become too harsh to survive?"

"It wasn't too harsh in the caves," Archer reasoned.

"We don't know that it wasn't about to get that way."

"How does that help us get out of here?"

"Not sure that it does. I still think we need to find the power source, something able to shift a shuttle and maintain the environment in at least three biospheres has to be pretty impressive."

"Presumably any power source would be outside of a sphere," Archer surmised.

"Sure," Tucker shrugged, "at least I would think so. It would have to have been set up before any spheres could have been constructed in the first place, unless they were building in envirosuits but even then they would have needed a source of power."

"So where would you put one?"

"Underground," Trip replied promptly and smiled grimly. "Back to square one."

"Yep, go back to the set up though," Jon prompted. "You've been sent to establish a colony on this planet. After setting up the power source what's your next move?"

Trip looked reflective for a moment. "Establish the first sphere," he said slowly and develop the atmosphere in that one before startin' work on the next and so on, it would take some time for the sphere to become habitable, clear of toxins and such."

"And how would you build the spheres in relation to each other?"

Tucker shrugged, "I'd keep them separate though probably fed from the same source of power but that's only because we don't have any way of maintaining a force field for any length of time as yet."

"But what would your layout be?"

"Oh, I'd build 'em with the power source in the centre as far as possible for ease of access."

Jon was smiling at Trip's enthusiasm. "Well, as far as I can see we've seen enough examples of the biospheres, I don't much fancy seeing the planet outside of the spheres so that leaves the power source. We need to find our way underground."

"And we need to do it without tripping any transporter sensors this time," Trip added. "Any ideas?"

"You see any sign of caves?" Jon asked, scrutinising the sides of the canyon.

Tucker followed suit and after a minute or so offered cautiously. "Maybe," he pointed up and to his right, "you see that outcrop just past the stream." When Archer nodded he continued, "look carefully in the shadow beneath it. I think that might be an opening."

"I think you may be right," the captain agreed after a close look where Trip was pointing. "I reckon we could make it up there, it's worth a try."

Trip looked closely at his friend, gauging his condition. Finally he decided that it was pretty much now or never, if Jon hadn't the energy or the willpower now after a night's sleep then he wasn't going to find it anytime soon. "Right," he said getting to his feet again, "y'know I thought we were through with climbing for a while."

Archer shrugged reaching his hand up to Tucker. "Maybe this time."

Trip didn't answer at once but examined the rockface with care, it was going to be important to plan their route as much as possible to give them plenty of handholds, even if it meant climbing a bit further. "Wish we had a rope," he muttered, almost to himself.

"I'll make it a requirement in emergency packs for the future," Jon smiled. "Ready?" he asked, "I reckon we should make for this side of the stream and head up that way. Then we won't have to cross the water until we're nearly at the overhang where there's a bit more to hang on to."

"Looks good," Tucker agreed, gathering himself for the climb ahead.

***********************************

It took them three hours of determined effort, punctuated by several stops but by mid morning they were almost at the overhang. The sun, by now, was high overhead and beat down mercilessly, making the water of the stream ever more appealing. The water in their water pouches was running low but they had not risked topping up their supplies from the streams for the simple reason that without sensors they couldn't know whether or not it was safe to drink. As far as Trip was concerned that was one problem they could afford to put off for a while. Crossing the stream, however, was another matter.

Up close it became obvious that the stream was much wider than it had appeared at first. While it would have been a relatively simple matter for either of them to cross it under normal circumstances their weakened state and collection of injuries made for some difficulty. Tucker eased the captain down onto a boulder by the side of the stream. Archer looked haggard and was breathing rapidly, partly from the increased altitude but largely from the pain of his leg. Trip conceded to himself that he probably looked much the same as his friend but he reasoned that he couldn't be feeling half as bad. He had always been a believer in the power of positive thinking.

The rocks on the bed of the stream were slippery with moss and algae and water flowed rapidly. Clearly there had been recent rain. "They don't keep the climate very temperate around here do they?" Tucker remarked.

"What do you mean?" Archer asked.

"Well, if I was controlling the environment I think I'd keep the water content a little lower and the temperatures less extreme, that way there'd be fewer storms. Come to that I can't really figure why they have so many different climate zones anyway."

"Maybe there was more than one species planning to live here."

"Perhaps, but either way wouldn't it have been better to have had a more settled climate?" 

Archer nodded, having little energy left for debate, he knew that Trip was trying to keep him talking to keep him alert as much as anything else and he couldn't blame him. It was hardly sensible to set up camp half way up the side of a canyon under a blazing sun. That didn't make it any easier to stay awake but it did help him to think about something other than the pain in his leg. 

Jon watched as Tucker reached a hand into the water to test the depth. The engineer was pale and drawn but was resolutely checking the rocks in the stream for stability. When he had finished he came over and sat down beside the captain.

"They seem steady enough Capt'n," he said, "we'll have to be careful how we go though, they're a bit slippery. I've scraped off as much algae as I can but …" his voice trailed off doubtfully. 

"Perhaps we should sit down to cross, we'd soon dry out in the sun," Archer offered, only half seriously but Tucker was immediately enthusiastic.

"Y'know that may just be the best idea," he agreed, "at least we wouldn't have far to fall." At once he got back to his feet and reached a hand down to Archer. "Come on," he said, "it's not far now. Once we're over the stream we can rest in the cave. You can see the entrance from here."

Archer looked up in surprise he hadn't realised they had climbed so far, so intent had he been on not falling over and trying to help Trip as much as possible. He braced himself as Tucker lowered him down by the edge of the stream before easing himself into the water, legs stretched out in front of him, rising slightly as the water rushed past down the slope.

Trip gasped as the cold water seeped into his clothes, it was much colder than he had expected considering how hot the sun was. He glanced up the side of the canyon, there was the reason, the water had come from an underground spring, just a few metres above them. "It's pretty cold Capt'n," he warned, "might take your breath away."

Tucker pulled himself across the stream a little and then reached a hand to support Archer as the captain used his hands to shunt himself into the water, being careful not to jog his leg. He ground his teeth against the cold, Trip hadn't been kidding. He pushed down with his right foot and gasped as it slipped against the algae but Tucker was there holding onto his arm until he regained his balance. "You alright Capt'n?" he asked, pulling gently to draw them both across to the other side. Archer nodded grimly and they made it the rest of the way without mishap, collapsing gratefully once they were free of the water.

After catching his breath for a minute or two Trip stood up with his back to the sun. They were on a steep slope as the canyon had got progressively steeper the higher they had climbed. To their right, as they faced the cliff, was the overhang they had seen from below and beneath it was the cave entrance they had striven so hard to reach.

For the next twenty minutes or so they relaxed and let the sunshine warm them as it dried their clothes. Archer began to drift off to sleep as he lay still and the constant pain in his leg abated somewhat, he woke as Tucker got slowly to his feet and opened his eyes to see the engineer looking down at him. "Sorry Capt'n," he said, "but I think we'd better get out of the sun. You're gonna get burned if you stay there much longer."

Jon smiled up at his friend and sat up gingerly. Trip had tied his jumpsuit around his waist as the heat began to get to him and was squeezing his undershirt into the pack as he spoke. He put it on his back and reached down to help the captain back to his feet. "We'll have to be careful along this ridge here," he indicated the path across to the overhang, "but once we're in the cave we can rest up for a bit, there's a fair sized cavern." At Archer's questioning look he added, "I had a look while you dozed off."

As Tucker had said the ridge was perilous, being both narrow and downwards sloping but by shunting themselves sideways they made the crossing without incident and were soon settled in relative comfort in the small cavern. Even within the cave the air was sultry and humid, suggesting that rain was not far away. 

Trip reached into the pack for water and protein bars determined to keep up their strength for as long as possible. There was no way of telling how much further they had to go. Enterprise would surely be looking for them by now but unless they could find a way of unblocking the sensors he couldn't see how they were going to find them. He looked over at the captain. Archer was exhausted and desperately needed to rest, which meant that they needed to stay where they were for the time being. Trip took his undershirt out of the pack and settled Archer down with the shirt as a pillow. "Get some sleep Jon," he said quietly, "I'll keep watch."

Archer barely nodded, his eyes already closing as if pulled down by gravity. Trip watched his friend until he was sure he was asleep and then got slowly to his feet and began to explore the cave while it was still light. He had no intention of going far for fear of becoming separated but there had always been some warning of a transport so he felt secure enough in wandering a few paces away from the slumbering captain.

The walls were covered in places with moss, dark green and red in colour and cold to the touch. Trip examined every surface looking for evidence of anything artificial but by the time it was getting too dark to see he was both frustrated and drooping with fatigue, having found nothing. The captain was still sleeping, muttering incomprehensibly in his sleep from time to time. Tucker had checked on him regularly fearing that he may be developing an infection but his temperature had shown no signs of rising. 

Outside the cave the sun had reached its zenith and set quickly, disappearing over the rim of the canyon. With it had gone the heat as the clouds built up and the promised rain arrived with the dusk, fitfully at first but by the time it was fully dark the rain was lashing the sides of the canyon fiercely. Trip shivered, he had long ago pulled up his jumpsuit but didn't want to wake the captain by taking back his 'pillow'. In some ways he was grateful, it meant that he would probably be able to stay awake more easily. In the morning, he decided, he would help Archer outside and they would look more closely at the place where the stream exited the mountain. If it came from underground perhaps they could find a way in themselves.

Some hours later Trip jerked awake. He was disorientated for a moment, not sure what had disturbed him. It was still pitch black and he fumbled around feeling for the backpack and the flashlight. He could feel Jon stirring beside him and was grateful for the company. 

"Trip?" Archer asked hoarsely, and then added more strongly, "what's wrong?"

"I don't know, "Tucker admitted, "somethin' woke me up, I must have dozed off." He sat up listening intently. The rain was still lashing down outside but the water was only reaching the outer edge of the cave. Behind them though he could hear water too, not the driving sound of the rain as it fell on the rocks outside but a much deeper pounding. "You hear that Capt'n?" he asked.

"Water."

"Yeah, trouble is I don't remember hearing it before." As he spoke Trip found the flashlight and began shining it around the cave behind them, following the sound of the rushing water. It didn't take long to find. Water was forcing itself through a narrow crevice that Tucker had examined earlier to see if they could get underground that way. When he had last seen it the opening had been far too small but now it was rapidly being widened. The rocks must be very soft.

"We gotta move Capt'n," Trip said quickly gathering their things together and helping Jon to his feet. "It may be that the water is helping us but we can't get past it at the moment."

Swiftly they made their way to the cave entrance. The light from the flashlight made little impression through the driving rain but when Trip swung it behind them the beam picked up a rapidly increasing flood from the crevice which was quickly taking up ever more of the space. Making up his mind he tucked the flashlight into his pocket to keep his hands free and felt for the rocks at the entrance with his left hand. As soon as the rain touched his hand he let out a yell and pushed them backwards into the cave, nearly knocking them to the ground.

"What the……?" he grimaced, shaking his hand to try to ease the stabbing pain. He fumbled for the flashlight with his other hand as Archer looked on concerned.

"Trip?" he asked. 

"There must be something in the rain," Tucker muttered, breathing heavily, "it's burnin' my hand." He leant back against the wall trying to control the shaking in his legs while Archer grabbed the flashlight and quickly brought one of the water pouches out of the backpack.

"Here," he said, "give me your hand."

Tucker reached a shaking hand out towards the light and Archer gently poured water from the pouch over it. The engineer's hand was a mass of blisters and even by the light of the flashlight it looked red. "My God," Jon mused, "from one little touch."

Trip closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. "We gotta get movin' Capt'n," he managed, "but I don't think we can go outside."

"How big is the opening the water is coming through?" Archer asked.

"Getting bigger all the time, but it wasn't anywhere near big enough for us when I looked before. 'Sides it's water."

"It's water from underground though, I'd be willing to bet it's not contaminated. We sat in the stream this afternoon remember." As he spoke Archer turned the flashlight to illuminate the cave. The beam picked out tiny white horses as the water danced in the light. It was still possible to cross to the far wall of the cave without being swept away, but time was running out.

Tucker followed the beam with his eyes and was ready when the captain turned back to him. He felt shaky but adrenaline was working in his favour and he pushed off the wall to help Archer. With the captain directing the light they managed to negotiate the rushing water and reach the rear wall of the cave. By now the distant pounding had become a roar that threatened to deafen them and they had to shout to make themselves heard. Thankfully Archer's theory that the water was safe had been proved correct and, although soaked, they received no further burns.

Flattening themselves against the rear wall they could feel the vibrations of the water on the other side as it forced its way through the ever-widening crevice. Taking the flashlight from Archer, Tucker edged his way closer to the torrent and peered at the opening. The water was forcing its way along the base of the crevice and appeared to be coming from a waterfall about ten metres further up. Beyond that was darkness, there may be a way through, there may not. He said as much to Archer.

"The way I see it we don't have much choice," Jon replied. "If we stay here sooner or later the water will sweep us outside." He paused. "Is there a way over the water back there?"

"Maybe, if we're quick we could still get over the top." Trip winced as a sudden wave splashed his hand. This was madness but, like Jon said, it wasn't as if they had much of a choice. Quickly he eased back to Jon and grabbed hold of him firmly. "We need to stick close together Capt'n," he said, "I'll try not to jog you."

Archer squeezed the shoulder he gripped for support and ground his teeth against the pain in his leg. Determinedly he followed his friend to the water's edge. 

Tucker paused for a moment to pick out the best route. They would need to climb up a couple of feet and then they should be able to make their way over the rubble. If nothing else broke free. He stepped up, careful to take small steps so that Jon would be able to keep his balance and felt his way over the rubble in near darkness. A couple of times his foot slipped and he felt Archer stiffen beside him but they kept going until, at last they reached the waterfall. Pausing for a moment to catch his breath and tighten his grip on the captain Tucker was unprepared for the sudden increase in water as the cascading torrent broke free of the crevice and suddenly filled the passage sending them tumbling head over heels back towards the cave. The last thing he saw before the world turned black was a pulsing red light casting eerie shadows in the darkness.

TBC

  



	7. Stranded Chapter 7

STRANDED

By Vanishingp2000

**Many thanks for the wonderful reviews; I really appreciate your taking the time.**

Email: vanishingp@supawoman.com 

Rating PG 13 – English –Adventure/Drama/Friendship NO SLASH

Disclaimer: Enterprise is owned by Paramount. I offer them and the cast and crew my grateful thanks for bringing us such wonderful entertainment. This story was written entirely for fun, not profit and is not intended to infringe copyright in any way.

Archive: Yes but please let me know where.

Chapter 7

Trip came to slowly, painfully, at first aware of little other than a sea of pain. Gradually it localised around his leg and his hand, both of which were throbbing unrelentingly. He was lying on a hard surface, slightly rough beneath his hands and all about him was still. No water, no rain, no torrent, and no darkness. _Damn it all,_ his sluggish brain registered his surroundings slowly. _We've been moved again. And not a moment too soon._

He opened his eyes and squinted against the sudden light. He could just make out Archer's prone form at the edge of his vision and he pulled himself towards him, not yet having the energy to get to his feet. "Capt'n," he rasped, surprised at how weak his voice  sounded, coughing he tried again. "Capt'n, how're you doin'?"  Trip reached out to shake his friend gently and was rewarded with a soft moan. 

Archer too was lying on the ground but, unlike Trip, he was on his back. He opened his eyes slowly, blinking to adjust to the light. The look on his face changed from a grimace of pain to one of incredulity as Tucker watched. "Capt'n?" he queried, "you OK?"

"We're back," Archer breathed. At Tucker's look of bemusement he elaborated. "We're on Enterprise."

"What?" Trip looked up and about him. Jon was right they were lying on the floor of the corridor near the transporter room. The transporter was still and they were not on the transporter pad, nor was there an operator in sight. _So how?_ "What?" he repeated, "what happened?" 

Jon shook his head struggling to sit up. Absently Trip helped him lean back against the wall then pulled himself wearily to his feet, reaching for the Com panel. "Tucker to sickbay," he called then pulled a face at the lack of response. "Tucker to sickbay," he tried again.

"Try T'Pol," Archer suggested but that too drew a blank as did a general call shipwide. A sense of dread settled over them as exhaustion brought about from the trials of the past few days pulled at their resolve. Finally, Trip straightened up from the wall where he had been leaning and reached down to pull Archer to his feet.

"Let's get to sickbay," he said, "get cleaned up then perhaps we can find out what the hell is goin' on."

Jon pushed himself off the floor and took Tucker's proffered hand. His mind was reeling. Where was the crew? Had they had to abandon Enterprise? And if so why? Nothing seemed wrong, on the surface at least. As soon as they had been to sickbay he would send Trip down to engineering and then the bridge. They had to find out what had happened.

As quickly as they were able they made their way to sickbay. They saw no-one on the way. The ship was eerily quiet, the warp engines off line, as Trip had been quick to point out, and a look through a viewport as they passed gave no hint of their location. There were no stars streaking past, in fact there was an ominous haze enveloping the ship for as far as the eye could see.

Reaching sickbay at last Trip helped Jon to lie on a biobed and hobbled off in search of hyposprays and clean dressings. A call for Phlox had yielded nothing but silence and their sense of apprehension deepened. Returning Tucker handed Archer a drink of water and touched a hypospray to his neck. "There ya go Capt'n," he offered, "that should start to work pretty quickly."

Jon lay back gratefully and waited for relief from the pain. He couldn't relax though, not while his crew was missing. His mind sharpened and focussed on minute details. Something nagged at his consciousness, something out of place but he couldn't quite place it. Trip was searching along Phlox's shelves for a medical scanner, his worry for his friends apparent to Archer by his hurried movements. He reached the bat cage in his search and suddenly Jon realised what was nagging him. The bat's cage. "Trip," he wondered aloud, "hasn't that bat's cage moved?"

Tucker looked about him absentmindedly, his thoughts on other things. "Nope," he said after a quick glance. "Don't think so."

"Have a proper look," Archer urged.

Trip stopped what he was doing and looked again, finally shaking his head. "Nah, it's where it always is."

"No, it isn't," Jon spoke slowly. "I remember coming in here just before we left and Phlox was feeding it, it was definitely on the other side of the column."

Trip shrugged, "OK, if you say so. Does it matter?"

"Not sure," Jon pulled himself up to lean on his elbows and grimaced in pain as his leg protested. 

Tucker was immediately at his side, scanner in hand. "Take it easy," he soothed, "that analgesic oughta be working by now."

"Must be a bad batch. Did you have any?"

Trip nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah," he pulled a face, "still hurts like hell."

"It needs to be cleaned, so does your hand. Pass the dressings over and I'll do it."

Tucker dragged over a chair and handed the captain the medical supplies before sinking slowly into the seat. He held his hand out to his friend. The burns had developed into ugly blisters on the skin, which were in danger of bursting. He shuddered to think what might have happened if they had stepped more quickly out into the rain.

Archer opened the medkit Trip had handed him and searched through for burn cream, he couldn't risk anything more than first aid but Trip's hand needed treating as soon as possible before infection set in. Finding what he was looking for he put the kit to one side, took the top off the tube and squeezed. Nothing.  "Damn," he swore, squeezing again with the same result.

Tucker smiled mirthlessly raising the scanner towards Archer's leg, a nasty suspicion forming in the back of his mind. "How's your leg Capt'n?" he asked, grimacing at the result on the scanner.

"Huh?" Archer was searching the medkit for burn dressings at least and didn't immediately register what Trip was saying. He was in a hurry to find out what had happened to the rest of the crew.

"I'm not getting' a reading from the scanner Capt'n, there's no cream in that tube, the Com doesn't work and, most importantly there's no-one here." Trip spoke slowly and deliberately watching Archer for a reaction, it wasn't long in coming.

Jon stared at his friend in silence for a moment as realisation dawned. "You think this is another biosphere?" he said incredulously.

Tucker nodded morosely. "It makes sense," he said, "much as I wish this was Enterprise at least it means the others are probably safe."

Jon nodded, relieved for the most part. Better the two of them stranded than everyone lost and at least this sphere was more comfortable even if nothing worked. "How did 'they' know?…." he began.

"To create this?" Trip waved his arms about, pulling a face, "I was scanned remember, probably its taken this long for them to come up with an Enterprise sphere. Even so two days is pretty impressive."

"It would also explain why everything looks right to you but not to me, it's your memories that were used."

"We'd better make the most of it while we can." As he spoke Trip reached over and took the medkit from the bed next to Archer.

"What do you mean? Make the most of it." 

"Well we've never been more than a day in any of the spheres, for whatever reason I don't think they can maintain them for any longer than that. At least here we know where things are and may be able to use that to help us. The only trouble is, if this is a sphere, we still need to stick together." He looked regretfully at his friend, knowing that moving again was probably the last thing Jon wanted to do. "I'll see what Phlox has got in the way of dry clothing and maybe I can find you a proper splint at least."

Archer nodded, thinking aloud. "Best to think through what we need and may be able to find before we move. Restock on medical supplies, water, food. How about engineering what may be there that you could use. Could you make a working communicator to break through the interference?"

"I can sure as hell try," Trip replied grimly. "If they've scanned my mind there should be more in engineering than anywhere else, even if it doesn't work at the moment."

"Where do you suppose we could find a way out from here?"  
  
Tucker shrugged, "could be anywhere. Might be the airlock or shuttle bay but I don't see why it couldn't just be the other side of any door."

"Surely it would need to be near the perimeter of the sphere?" Archer reasoned.

"Maybe, but were we near the centre when we were in the first cave? There's no way of tellin'."

Archer grimaced before resolutely taking the medkit back from his friend and taking out a dressing for Trip's hand. He made a thorough job, putting a second dressing on top of the first to try to give what protection he could. That done he had Tucker rest his leg on the biobed next to him and then cleaned away the soiled dressings and reapplied a fresh bandage. The wound was clean but remained as ragged as when it had first happened. Clearly it had bled several times since Trip's accident and still required sutures but that would have to wait. Again Archer applied a double dressing before handing the kit back to his friend.

Trip eased himself off the bed and began to search through Phlox's cupboards for fresh supplies and clothing. Eventually he found a couple of sets of pyjamas that the doctor kept for his patients. "Guess these'll have to do us for a bit but we'll have to collect something warmer for when the climate changes."

Archer laughed. "Perhaps it's as well there's no one around to see us. Where do you think you may have 'remembered' some clothes?"

"My quarters," Trip frowned, "probly not anywhere else now that I think of it, unless you want a spacesuit. Perhaps we'd better take these wet things with us, they'll dry." As he spoke he began to take off his wet clothes as quickly as possible replacing them with Phlox's things. It felt good to be dry again. As soon as he was done he helped Jon, taking time to strap his leg to a splint he made from four unworkable padds found on Phlox's desk.

Finally they were ready to leave. They had taken anything useful they had been able to find, unfortunately it didn't amount to much. Only non-operational items were complete and of them only objects that had been in Trip's mind when he was scanned had been reproduced. Archer agreed with his friend that engineering was likely to be the most productive part of the ship for them as the chief engineer's memories were likely to be most detailed there. That left them with another problem though. How to get there? As they had already discovered, the ship was non-operational which included turbolifts and access tubes were not a favoured option for either of them right now.

Eventually they decided to just get moving and see what happened, as Trip had pointed out nothing had been making sense before so maybe things would be just as mixed up here.

After five minutes of searching along the corridor outside sickbay, peering into every door it appeared that Tucker's hunch had been right as the next door they opened revealed the Mess Hall, far removed from where it should have been but a welcome sight nonetheless. 

Trip smiled in grim satisfaction as he helped Archer to sit in a chair and then moved towards the food slots. "I wonder what I 'remembered' here?" he joked.

"I hate to think," Jon teased as he realised how hungry he was. Right now anything would be good. He smiled as Trip came back with a tray laden with a pasta dish, two slices of pie and bottled water.

"There you go Capt'n, get stuck in."

"Thanks Trip," Jon smiled and reached for his fork. Tucker was already taking a mouthful and Jon jumped as his friend recoiled in shock.

"Dammit," he growled, "I should have known."

"What is it?" Archer asked surprised, "what's wrong?"

"Tastes like polystyrene," Tucker groaned, "I doubt there's any goodness in it at all."

Archer pulled a face. "Perhaps the water'll be OK." He said. "We can manage with that if nothing else."

"Humph," Tucker grumbled but broke the seal on his bottle all the same, trying the contents carefully. "Tastes OK," he said finally, "I guess water is a constant." He went back over to the food slot and took the remaining bottles, adding them to the pack he carried. "Guess I'll have to find another pack, we're getting' a bit overloaded here." He finished the water from his bottle and looked over at his friend. "Ready to go?" he asked, trying for a spark of enthusiasm. Even to his own ears it sounded false. They seemed no closer to finding a way out than they had been two days ago.

Two hours later they finally came to engineering. Having looked through every door in their path they had visited astrometrics, the armoury, Archer's ready room, where they had salvaged a field jacket and the bridge. It was strange to find places tumbling on top of each other but it also made it impossible to predict what they might come upon next. Frustratingly the bridge itself yielded nothing useful as absolutely nothing worked. The only thing of interest was the viewscreen which afforded a good view of the energy barrier at the edge of the biosphere, confirming what they already knew.

Engineering was quiet and strangely still, apart from the obvious lack of people there were no lights on the panels and the room looked unfinished somehow. Trip reflected that he had never appreciated how much the subtle hum of equipment was a part of his working environment. He missed it.

Tucker settled the captain in the chair at his workstation and went to see what he could scavenge. Clearly he had been thinking of a busy time of day when his mind was searched, which was just as well. Not so much happened during the nightshift and there wouldn't have been much left about. As it was he managed to salvage several items that, while not working at present, he could reassemble to make a communicator that would have a much greater range than their handheld models usually employed. He also collected together some tools to supplement the ones from the shuttle's emergency kit.

"What do you think Capt'n?" he asked when he had finished, "shall I make a start on this?" he indicated the communicator parts, "or do you think we should try and find a way to the power source?"

Archer grimaced. "Much as I would like to have a working communicator I think our best chance of getting home is still to disable the power source and walking here is a lot easier than it has been in the other spheres."

Trip nodded. "I agree. We've been here several hours already, not counting the time we were unconscious when we got here. It must be getting time for the weather to get bad."

"You know you're right," Jon agreed. "I never really thought about it before but each time we've moved the weather has been bad."

"Yeah, I reckon the weather outside the spheres is what causes them to break down. Maybe that's why they didn't settle here after all."

"Could be, if so who's maintaining the spheres now then?"

"More importantly, why?"

"And why the sensor block?" Archer wondered readying himself to move again. It was getting harder each time to find the energy and resolve but giving up wasn't in his nature and he knew that Trip would never give up on him so there really wasn't much choice. "Wonder where we'll end up this time?"

Tucker laughed, "Maybe T'Pol's quarters," he suggested.

"When were you last in there?" Archer wondered innocently causing Trip to laugh out loud completely unabashed by the question. 

As luck would have it the door from engineering led directly into Tucker's own quarters and he used the chance to change into a fresh uniform and found some warm clothes for the captain also. They were a little short but fitted well enough. "Better than pyjamas," Trip joked.

"Yeah, you know I was beginning to get a bit cold. Maybe night is coming outside."

"Prob'ly right, it's a little hard to tell in here." Trip peered out his viewport, using his good hand to shade his eyes. "It's a shame we can't turn these lights off, might see better," he reasoned. "There is something out there I think, a break in the blackness."

He helped Archer up from his seat by Trip's desk and together they stared into the blackness. "It's not really a vacuum out there of course," Jon offered.

"Yeah, I know," Trip agreed slowly, "but how do we get out there? D'you see where I mean?" he asked after a few moments.

"To the right, about three o'clock? It's slightly darker than everywhere else."

"Yeah," Trip sounded relieved. "So," he repeated, "how do we get out there?"

"Where's the nearest exit?"

"Well normally…." Tucker began then laughed, sucked his teeth for a moment then began looking in his closets, the bathroom, tapping the back of the shower, under the bed before giving up in disgust and sitting back on his bed in frustration. His eyes narrowed as he stared across the small room looking past the captain to his desk. Suddenly a twinkle appeared in his eye. "That shouldn't be there," he said in triumph crossing the room quickly then getting more slowly to his knees.

Archer looked on bemused as Tucker slid the desk chair to one side and crawled beneath his desk, tapping the wall with his good hand. His head poked out and he smiled up at his friend. "Care for a little space walk Capt'n?" he asked.

**************************************

Many miles above their heads Enterprise slipped into a high orbit, Mayweather guiding the great ship carefully, establishing orbit around a planet you couldn't see either visually or on sensors wasn't something to be rushed.  Finally he relaxed slightly in his chair. "We are in orbit Sub Commander," he reported.

"Thank you Ensign." T'Pol looked up from her viewer at the science station a reflective look on her face. "There is nothing to be seen on the sensors so we shall adjust our orbit to allow for a standard search pattern. I estimate that it will take 2.5 days to complete. Ensign Sato," T'Pol turned to Hoshi at the comm station, "have you picked up anything on audio?"

Hoshi shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry Sub Commander," she said, "I've been going through all bandwidths but there's nothing yet."

"Lieutenant Reed," T'Pol turned to Reed at tactical, "have you been able to pinpoint the source of the energy spike?"

Reed shook his head in frustration. "I can give a general location but that still gives us thousands of square miles to search. I'm sending the co-ordinates to the science station now."

A tense silence descended on the bridge as everyone concentrated completely on the search for their missing colleagues. There was a pervasive feeling that time was running out.

***********************************

"I feel like Alice crawling down the damn rabbit hole," Archer groaned as Tucker helped him to ease through the opening he had found beneath his desk. It felt somewhat surreal moving from the well-lit environs of Tucker's quarters into absolute blackness. Once through the opening they were able to get to their feet although the ground beneath their feet was once again uneven. Trip held the flashlight out in front of them searching for the anomaly they had seen from the viewport. He shone it briefly behind them curious to see what the ship would look like from outside. It bore no resemblance to the sleek lines of the real Enterprise but then they hadn't really expected that it would.

"Somehow we've got to try and slip in," Tucker warned, "we don't want to be 'moved' again."

"They may not be ready to move us," Archer reasoned, "we haven't been here that long, there may not be another sphere ready."

"I still can't work out whether they're trying to help us or hinder us." Tucker said, grunting as he tried to juggle the flashlight with his injured hand, needing his right hand to support his friend.

"Here," Archer offered, seeing the problem, "let me."

Tucker handed over the flashlight and Archer steered it as best he could in front of them. It made little impression on the blackness that became more intense the further they moved away from the ship. "I'm not sure that we wouldn't be better off without the light," Archer said after they had struggled forwards for a couple of minutes. "It's not bright enough to show anything but it's masking what we were able to see from the ship."

"Y'may be right," Trip agreed slightly breathlessly, "go ahead and turn it off."

Archer complied and the sudden blackness left them disoriented. Letting their eyes adjust to the darkness they gradually became aware of a low humming that seemed to be coming from off to their right. Peering towards the sound they could just make out a small patch of intense dark. Moving forwards they stumbled slightly, having no point of reference in the darkness. Trip focussed on the patch and steadied them before moving off again. After a moment or two they were able to adjust their movements so that they could carry on more steadily. 

The patch seemed to grow slowly and the hum increased as they approached and gradually they were able to make out occasional flickers across the area of blackness. Finally they came to within a few metres of the anomaly and its nature became clear.

"It's the boundary," Archer spoke for them both, disappointment heavy in his voice.

"Yeah," Tucker agreed, "but I think it's faulty, we may be able to short it out."

"Without getting fried?" Archer asked dubiously.

"Preferably," Trip agreed dryly. "Look, the entire rest of the boundary is completely black, nothing at all. I reckon this area is breaking down, if we can short it out, even if only for a few moments, we should be able to slip through."

"OK, how do we go about that?"

"We throw something at it and hope we don't attract too much attention."

"That technical?" Jon laughed, "got anything in mind?"

Tucker reached down to the ground and asked Jon to shine the flashlight about in front of them. The 'space' they were standing on was strewn with rocks and he selected a couple of large ones. "We need to be ready to move," he cautioned. "It may not last long. They obviously have some pretty sophisticated systems operating around here."

"The only thing that bothers me is what we'll find on the other side."

"Only one way to find out."

Archer nodded in the darkness. Trip was right, their only option was to go on and try to work with whatever they found once through the barrier. "Ready when you are," he said, tightening his grip on his friend's shoulder, ready to move as soon as Tucker gave the word.

Trip drew his arm back and threw the largest of the rocks at the barrier. Immediately on impact there was an intense electrical discharge which threw them to the ground. Trip managed to shield Jon from the worst of the impact by pulling the captain on top of him but the pain was excruciating nontheless as the broken bones in his leg jarred together. Archer cried out and fought to stay conscious.

The humming had stopped. From his place on the ground Trip tentatively reached out and aimed another rock at the barrier. Nothing. Quickly he hauled himself out from beneath Archer and reached down to pull in his friend over his shoulder in a fireman's lift. Jon's hold on consciousness finally slipped and he became limp in Tucker's grasp. Straining the engineer moved as quickly as he could towards the hole. It was now or never. 

He could see nothing, beyond was pitch black but a muted humming was beginning to build and he could feel the electrical discharge tickling along his skin. Throwing caution to the winds he pushed on through the gap and stepped into hell.

TBC


	8. Stranded Chapter 8 and Epilogue

STRANDED

By Vanishingp2000

**I can't thank you enough for the wonderful reviews. I have been working on my second story and you have really helped me to get over a bad case of writer's block. Thank you.**

Email: vanishingp@supawoman.com 

Rating PG 13 – English –Adventure/Drama/Friendship NO SLASH

Disclaimer: Enterprise is owned by Paramount. I offer them and the cast and crew my grateful thanks for bringing us such wonderful entertainment. This story was written entirely for fun, not profit and is not intended to infringe copyright in any way.

Archive: Yes but please let me know where.

Chapter 8

"Sub Commander…." Reed began.

"I see it Lieutenant." T'Pol answered calmly and continued for the benefit of those working at other stations. "There was a momentary energy spike for 0.6 seconds."

"I put it in the northern hemisphere," Reed added, "I picked up some intense weather systems as the sensor block lifted."

"Did you locate the Starfleet signal again?" Hoshi asked excitedly.

Reed nodded, "it showed up briefly. In the northern hemisphere also but I don't think it was in the same place as the energy spike. It's difficult to be precise."

"It is to be hoped that the captain and Commander Tucker are not anywhere near the source of the extreme weather systems," T'Pol spoke softly but clearly. "It is doubtful they would survive weather of such severity."

"With a Starfleet signal down there it's a reasonable bet that they are at least on the planet." Mayweather said.

"For better or worse," Reed muttered darkly.

************************************

Lightning flashed almost continuously overhead as Trip emerged through the hole, Archer over his shoulder. The resulting noise from the thunder drowned all coherent thought as they were slammed to the ground by gale force winds and rain. Tucker fought to turn them back the way they had come but the barrier showed only black. It was back in place.

Gasping for breath he scrambled over to where Jon had fallen and began dragging him towards the shelter of a rocky overhang he could see during the lightning flashes. He fought to retain his footing as he crouched low, ignoring the pain in his own leg and hand. Dimly he realised that the air was at least breathable, when the wind allowed time to breathe. They were both soaked again and Trip was shivering with cold, despite the exertion. _At least we know why they needed biospheres, he thought as he reached the overhang and took a moment to catch his breath._

All around them debris flew through the air, caught up in the fierce gusts. Trip ducked down and shielded the captain as several large rocks were flung it their direction, some catching him painfully in the back. He glanced wildly about looking for a better shelter, protection from the storm, but could see nothing further than the edge of the overhang. Even the barrier had disappeared. _Definitely a bad move Tucker, _he berated himself as more rocks slammed into the wall to his left. _Should'a stayed where we were._

A wild howling heralded an increase in the strength of the wind and Trip fought to keep them in place beneath the overhang as the wild gusts threatened to suck them from its pitiful shelter. He shifted his grip on Archer's shoulders, determined that whatever happened they would stay together and looked up in horror at a sharp crack. The overhang was giving way. A boulder the size of an inspection pod was plummeting towards them. He jammed them as far beneath the overhang as he could and waited as the winds screamed out their fate.

Trip sucked in a deep breath. All about them was silent and pitch black. He took a moment to gather his thoughts. Jon still lay beneath his hands, Trip could feel him breathing although he was still unconscious. _Prob'ly just as well, Trip reasoned, __after the hammerin' we've just taken. He could see nothing, there was no break in the darkness, nor could he hear anything, it was eerily silent. He coughed to reassure himself and his voice echoed slightly. Sitting back he knocked the backpack against something firm behind him and remembered the flashlight. Somehow he was surprised to still have it. "Not that I'm complainin'," he said aloud, needing to hear his voice as he reached into the pack, finding the light by touch. The light came on at the press of a button and revealed their surroundings._

They were in a large cavern. Trip had knocked the backpack against the wall and Archer lay beside him on his side. The cavern was too big for the light to penetrate and despite twisting and turning it in every direction about him Tucker was unable to even see the roof. The ground was rocky and uneven but dry and he swept an area clear with his good hand before settling the captain down more comfortably and covering him with the field jacket they had salvaged. The air smelt stale but Trip was content that he was able to breathe comfortably enough so he let it pass. The temperature was more of an issue. Having been soaked again he would have liked a chance to warm up but here, beneath the ground it was decidedly cool and he was having a job controlling his shivering.

Trip got to his feet and swung his arms about in an attempt to warm up. Events had overtaken them again. This was a crazy place, for every thing that they learned, or thought they did they received a set back. He wondered morosely whether or not they would ever return to Enterprise but stopped that train of thought in its tracks as he looked down at his friend lying on the floor and relying on him to get them out of this mess. Jon had pulled him out of trouble often enough he'd be damned if he was going to let him down.

A soft moan pulled him away from his thoughts and he knelt beside his friend as Archer wearily opened his eyes. "Where are we?" he rasped, his voice barely above a whisper, "did we get through?"

"Yes and no," Tucker replied, checking Archer's pulse and temperature. "We got through but it was like being in a nightmare. The worst storm I've ever seen and then some, rocks were being thrown through the air by the wind, constant lightning. Anyway," he paused shaking his head, "we were moved again but I haven't had a chance to find out whether this is another sphere or not."

"You cut yourself again," Archer's voice was stronger as concern for his friend gave him energy.

"I did?"

"Yeah, you've got blood running down your face."  
  
Trip shrugged, putting a hand to his face. "I didn't notice, thought it was water. It musta been the rocks." He reached down into the pack which he had left on the ground and took out a medical wipe running it quickly over his face.

Archer laughed, "You just smeared it, let me," he offered, reaching out his hand for the wipe.

Trip handed it over, glad to see his friend with some energy, and sat still as Archer cleaned the cut. He couldn't really feel it as he was still cold but he used the time to think. "The last few times we were moved there was a little more to see."

"That's putting it mildly," Archer agreed, finishing up with Trip's cut. "You've got quite a bump there, you sure it's not bothering you?"

Tucker shook his head, "Nah, prob'ly too cold. Y'know," he paused, rubbing his eyes tiredly, "I don't think this is a sphere. I think we rushed them and they didn't have one ready."

"Then maybe this is our chance, perhaps we got back into the caves by default."  
  
"Uhuh, so, we need to move quickly before they get a sphere ready and chuck us out again."

Wordlessly Archer began to push himself up from the ground, taking Trip's hand for support. "I don't know about you," he said, "but I'm getting damned tired of all this."

"I'm with you Capt'n," Tucker agreed, "you OK with the flashlight again?"

"Sure, which way d'you want to go?"

"Down if we can, we were headin' that way when they moved us from the caves before."

Archer nodded and braced himself as Trip began walking. Try as he might he found he had to lean more heavily on his friend than before, somehow his good leg just wouldn't co-operate as well as it had. But all this was taking its toll on Trip too and privately Jon doubted that they would be able to go too much further without help. They had to find a way out of here.

They made their way slowly around the edge of the vast cavern looking for any opening that might lead off downwards. Twice they had to stop to rest but eventually their persistence paid off and they found a narrow opening off to their right.

"Turn off the light," Tucker suggested, "let's see if it's lit at all down there."

Archer did as his friend suggested and was rewarded with the faintest of glows some way down the narrow passage. "Wonder if anyone's home?"

"Someone's been movin' us all over the place. Let's hope they're still not ready with anywhere new because I doubt we'll be able to sneak up on 'em."

"They do seem to know where we are," Jon agreed. "Listen," he whispered, stopping Trip from moving again, "can you hear something?"

"Yeah," Trip nodded grimly, "sounds like a generator, a powerful one at that."

"It would need to be."

"We need to find a control room." Tucker spoke softly but Archer could hear the determination in his friend's voice.

They began moving again, trying to be as quiet as possible but with their limited mobility it was difficult. After a time they noticed that the glow from the walls was more intense and they shut off the flashlight. The noise of the generator too was increasing. "That wasn't here before," Trip whispered, adjusting his grip round Archer's waist. The captain was leaning heavily on him and hadn't spoken for some time, saving his energies for walking. Trip sat him down to rest for a moment and slid wearily down beside him, trying to focus his thoughts. 

He was becoming more and more convinced that a control centre of some sort must be near by. Why have it any distance from the generator? That wouldn't make sense. All they had to do was to find it and access the controls without being stopped or moved. _Easy, he shrugged, wishing he could believe himself._

In the end finding the control room proved easier than they could have hoped. They had barely started walking again when they rounded a corner and were met by a pulsing red dot. Beyond they could see a cavern opening out to reveal a vast complex of generators and monitors around the walls. "Uh oh," Trip spoke softly, not wanting a repeat of his experience with the red light. He backed them up slowly towards the corner when, out of the corner of his eye he saw the dot move until it was behind them. "Damn," he said crossly, "now what?"

"You must wait here," the voice seemed to come from everywhere at once and Tucker cringed at the volume. "The sphere is not ready, you would not survive."

"Who are you?" Archer asked from Tucker's side. "We mean you no harm, we'd just like to get off this planet."

"You must wait here," the voice repeated. "The sphere is not ready."

"We don't want to go to the sphere," Tucker stated firmly, "we want to go back to our ship."

"All of the ships left millennia ago. You must wait here."

"We got that bit," Trip said crossly. "Capt'n can you try and distract it, I'll see if I can get past to the control room." As he spoke he set Archer down on the ground and began easing himself to the side as the captain began to speak.

"Our ship only arrived a few days ago, we crashed on your planet," Archer began.

"The planet is shielded to protect you. You must wait here."

_This is getting' kinda repetitive, _Trip thought as he slowly made his way back around the corner. He could hear Jon having a one sided conversation with the voice but left it to his friend to handle that side of things as he approached the control room. He slid the pack off his back and looked through the opening that served as a door. After all that this planet had thrown at them he didn't want to be stopped at the last by a force field or similar. His caution proved well founded as a close inspection revealed a shimmering electrical field across the entrance. _Keep it talking Capt'n, _he muttered as he selected a tool to try and access the panel he had spotted in the wall. 

The controls in the panel were complex. Deciding that speed was more important than finesse Trip picked up a rock and slammed it into the panel with all of the pent up emotions within him. The result was less than spectacular but successful non the less as the electrical field suddenly shimmered out of existence. Tucker entered the room quickly and took stock. The cavern was huge, much bigger than it had looked from the passage and was clearly manmade. Along one side were computer screens showing scenes of what he supposed were spheres in the process of completion. He recognised the Enterprise sphere but clearly it had fallen victim to the weather outside as the images of the ship showed scenes of devastation. 

Two monitors along the scene was one from his childhood with simple buildings by the Florida Keys. He had been scanned, it had just taken some time for the computer processors to come up with the more complex patterns rather than just changing the weather systems and repairing the spheres. Trip shook his head in silent admiration for the programmers whose knowledge and expertise had set this system up. He sure would like to have met them but the voice had said all the ships left millennia ago so it didn't look likely. 

He counted twenty monitors in all with scenes on them. The complex was much more extensive than they had imagined. Reaching the end of the wall at last he turned to look at the generators. Their systems were recognisable at least but again they were vast. He didn't know where to begin to look for the sensor block. 

Suddenly a shout came from off to his left. Jon.

"It's programmed to protect Trip," Archer yelled as Tucker raced towards him. "And that includes the complex. Look out."

Trip ducked down behind the generators as the red light appeared in the doorway. "You must wait in the holding area," the voice boomed, reverberating even over the noise of the engines.

Through the doorway Tucker could see the captain crawling determinedly towards them, yelling to try and distract the light. Trip knew he had moments only before he was discovered and with that discovery maybe their last chance of escape. He nipped between the generators looking for something, anything, with which to shut the complex down. A loud humming began which he recognised as the precursor to the transport beam and in desperation he started flinging switches and turning handles to throw the giant generators out of action.

The humming abruptly stopped and the lights began to flicker, turning red as the pulsing light approached again. Tucker tripped more switches and ducked as quickly as he was able between the massive machines as a whining began and the red light grew in intensity before suddenly disappearing altogether.

The cavern was plunged into darkness as the whining increased, growing in pitch and menace. Fires began breaking out and Tucker flung himself in the direction of the doorway and the captain. "We've gotta get out of here Jon," he yelled. "It's either gonna blow completely or else just stop working which could be just as bad." As he spoke he pulled Archer to his feet and half dragged, half carried him back up the passage and around as many corners as possible.

The whining followed them, accompanied by a series of explosions that made the ground shake beneath them. "Gotta keep goin'," Trip gasped, rocking on his feet as he tried to hold them steady.

"Where?" Archer rasped, doing his best to help his friend. Both were running on pure adrenaline. 

"No further than the cavern we were moved to last time. If the generators go offline they won't be able to support the spheres and they'll soon break down. Believe me you don't want to be outside in that storm."

Archer heard the undercurrent of desperation in his friend's voice and what he had left unsaid. _Enterprise had better be looking for us or we're on borrowed time. _"You didn't have any choice Trip," he offered breathlessly as they pushed on further up the passageway. "I don't think either of us would've wanted to be trapped here forever."

Tucker didn't answer but concentrated instead on putting as much distance as possible between them and the control room. They were moving largely by instinct as the only light came from the flickering flames reflected off the rocks behind them. The air was becoming choked with smoke and the echoing whine of the dying generators filled their senses. 

Abruptly they reached the end of the passage just as a massive explosion reached their ears to be followed immediately by an immense rush of air as the destructive force was flung along the passage to find release. They were thrown into the air to land several metres away into the cavern, falling debris landing all about them as their world erupted.

*********************************

Smoke particles swirled in the air to land delicately on the backs of the two men and amongst the rocky detritus that surrounded them. The silence was deafening in its intensity and it was long moments before either found their voice. Finally Tucker eased himself coughing to his knees in the darkness and called out to his friend. "Capt'n? Jon? Where are you?"

Archer moaned softly and moved his arm, catching Trip's knee as he did so. Trip grasped his hand in relief. "I guess we made it Capt'n," he said, "now we wait."

Jon squeezed Trip's hand in his and lay back sighing gently. He heard optimism from his friend this time and somehow he couldn't help but agree with him especially when a gentle beeping from the communicator in his pocket connected them once again to the outside world.

***********************************

Epilogue.

Trip awoke and stretched carefully. He still ached all over from being pummelled by the rocks but he felt refreshed for the first time in days. Refreshed and clean he reflected which was a definite bonus. He turned his head and looked at the bed next to him. Archer was sitting up watching him, his leg encased in a support to keep the blanket from touching it.

"Hey, how're you doing?" Jon asked smiling.

"Good, you?"

Archer nodded, like Trip he still looked worn but the lines of pain and exhaustion that had been etched on their faces when they had been picked up two days earlier had gone.

"Doc says he'll probably release us to quarters today."

"Thank you," Trip raised his face to the ceiling a look of contentment passing over his features. Much as he appreciated Phlox's care he didn't want to spend any more time in sickbay than he had to.

The door opened and T'Pol entered with Reed. She nodded at the captain and then Tucker before consulting the padd she held. "The last of the biospheres has been obliterated by the storms," she announced, all trace of the relief she had felt at the safe return of her colleagues suitably masked.

Tucker shook his head, regret on his face. "It was an incredible system T'Pol, you should've seen it. It's a cryin' shame it had to be destroyed."

"You had no choice Trip," Archer repeated, "as the voice said all of the builders were long gone. They obviously hadn't been able to make a success of the scheme at all."

"No but the computer and those generators. I would've loved to get a better look at that programming," Tucker sighed wistfully.

Reed smiled at his friend sympathetically, inordinately glad to have the crew complete once again. "At least the planet is now visible so no-one else is likely to crash down there."

Archer looked sombre, recalling the events of the past few days. He knew he wouldn't have survived on his own, neither of them would. They were a team, he and Trip and the crew of the Enterprise, each of them stronger for knowing each other. He picked up his glass of water from the nightstand and raised it in a toast. "To friendship," he said, eyeing each of his colleagues and resting his gaze on Trip.

"Friendship," they echoed, Trip's eyes twinkling as he touched his glass to his friend's.

The End

A/N I hope that you have enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Many thanks for the reviews.

Vanishingp2000


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